“Research for Lifesaving Cures Act” will be killed. ( Update – VIDEO: Harry Reid scoffs at question, “if you can help one child who has cancer, why wouldn’t you do it?)

UPDATE 6;50 p.m. — House approves funding for NIH, 170 Democrats vote Nay. Measure now goes to Senate.

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The Atlantic ran a story yesterday about kids with cancer allegedly being turned away from National Institutes for Health clinical trials.

The story was vague on the details of whether this meant they didn’t get treatment, or merely could not sign up for the program, but that didn’t matter when it came to the PR war.

The meme of Republicans hurting kids with cancer generated a lot of anti-Republican media, incuding from Justin Barasky, National Press Secretary at the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee:

GOP shutdown causing children w/ cancer to be turned away from clinical trials. awful. http://t.co/5nBm0uuWFB — Justin Barasky (@JustinBarasky) October 2, 2013

And David Bernstein of Boston Magazine:

So I'm clear: House GOP is now asking to keep parks open, treatment for cancer kids closed? For true? — David S. Bernstein (@dbernstein) October 2, 2013

What they didn’t know, or didn’t care to know, was that Republicans were planning a vote on a funding bill for NIH to be voted on today.

The official name of the Bill is the “Research for Lifesaving Cures Act”.

Obama has announced he will veto it:

President Obama has just threatened to veto funding bills for NIH kids, veterans, nat'l parks, nat'l guard & DC. pic.twitter.com/ofe2ucn7vA — Eric Cantor (@GOPLeader) October 2, 2013

Will the people who screamed at Republicans about kids with cancer now call out Obama on the issue?

Apparently not:

@LegInsurrection He's been pretty consistent, all or nothing, right? — David S. Bernstein (@dbernstein) October 2, 2013

Update — and maybe, we’ll see:

@LegInsurrection Actually, yes, I'm in the process of writing a second one about just that. — Jordan Weissmann (@JHWeissmann) October 2, 2013

More: Yes, Jordan Weissman did write a new post, The GOP Wants to Restore NIH Funding: Should Obama Allow It?, with this conclusion:

But this is a special case. While funding the government piecemeal is a generally bad idea, we are, in this specific instance, talking about dying men, women, and children, not to mention crucial research that could save lives. Obama has already signed a bill to specially pay for the military. Cancer patients seem no less deserving than soldiers.

Harry Reid is stammering over the issue:



