Lefty Sen. Bernie Sanders is facing a storm of backlash for blocking the Senate from fast-tracking legislation aimed at helping pediatric cancer patients by giving them access to comprehensive drug treatments.
The bleeding-heart liberal from Vermont was the sole vote against passing the Mikaela Naylon Give Kids a Chance Act on Wednesday, demanding a quid pro quo be attached to it for more funding for other efforts such as community health centers.
A unanimous vote in the chamber would have allowed the bill to bypass several steps, which typically involve the committee process and rules for debate, to move it straight along.
Sanders’ vote ensured the bipartisan cancer package won’t clear the Senate before Christmas and forces the upper chamber to now undergo the more procedurally intensive process to make the bipartisan bill law.
Given that the bill had already unanimously cleared the House, it only needed to get through the Senate before going straight to President Trump’s desk for his signature.
“Bernie Sanders killed a bill to help pediatric cancer patients. Why? For ‘leverage.’” White House Deputy chief of staff James Blair chided on X.
“He should be ashamed of himself. Democrats are sick, sick people.”
The bipartisan Mikaela Naylon Give Kids a Chance Act, which cleared the House unanimously earlier this month, makes reforms to ensure children with cancer can get access to key treatments and participate in clinical trials.
The measure also extends the Pediatric Priority Review Voucher Program to incentivize companies to develop more therapies for pediatric ailments.
It was named after Mikaela Naylon, a Colorado 16-year-old who was diagnosed with osteosarcoma in 2020 and died Oct. 29. She donated her body to science in the hope that experts will eventually find a cure.
Before her death, Mikaela was one of many pediatric cancer patients who lobbied lawmakers to pass the bill.
Sanders had fussed that the $1.2 billion bill should include riders for other initiatives as well, such as community health centers, the Bulwark reported.
“We must do everything we can to find new cures and treatments for pediatric cancer, and I strongly support that effort, period,” Sanders said in a Senate floor speech Wednesday. “I think we can all imagine that heartbreak that parents go through when they learn that they’re babies are diagnosed with cancer.
“I believe that we must revive that bipartisan agreement that was worked on month after month after month by Democrats and Republicans.”
Sanders attempted to tack an amendment to revive a proposal for other initiatives onto the Mikaela Naylon Give Kids a Chance Act, but that effort was rejected by Sen. Markwayne Mullin (R-Okla.).
”I am disappointed that Sen. Mullin objected to my bipartisan health care package as an amendment to the Give Kids a Chance Act,” Sanders said in a statement about his vote.
“Tens of thousands of children and adults in Oklahoma and Vermont and every other state die each year from preventable diseases because they don’t have access to doctors. Let’s accomplish both goals.”
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Mullin pinned the blame on Sanderes.
“Bernie Sanders single-handedly killed our bill to help pediatric cancer patients,” he chided on X. “We won’t let him forget it.”
Vice President JD Vance blasted Sanders’ vote as “really disgraceful.”
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