Congress voted against funding a cure for cancer just to block a win for Biden

Some Republicans, refusing to give President Joe Biden a ‘win,’ voted against the renewal of funding for cancer research. Vote for those who do not politicize Americans’ health. I’m afraid I have some bad news.

As a hospital doctor, I’ve gotten pretty good at delivering bad news. Still, it never gets any easier. It certainly was not easy the day I told my 53-year-old patient, a devoted father of two, that his stomach pains were not from gallstones as everyone had assumed. Whenever a doctor says “bad news,” our minds often jump to that terrible “C”-word we fear: cancer. Unfortunately for my patient, I diagnosed him with a deadly form of cancer: cholangiocarcinoma. Over the next year, I would watch him deteriorate as he was readmitted with complication after complication.

Cancer affects everyone in some way, shape or form. Whether personally or through a family member or friend, the stress and heartbreak of a cancer diagnosis is immeasurable. Which is why I was so surprised when I read that Congress would not be renewing investments in the “Cancer Moonshot” initiative dedicated to curing cancer.While there are many different forms of cancer and likely as many different research endeavors to treat them, the Moonshot program was the largest, organized effort by the U.S. government to find cures. Formed in 2016 by then-Vice President Joe Biden, after his own son was killed by brain cancer, the program has enjoyed bipartisan support and praise.

Initially funded in 2016 at $1.8 billion for seven years, with the aim to reduce cancer deaths by half by 2047, the program has made strides in expanding access to cancer detection screenings, especially to veterans, increased support for programs aimed at preventing cancer in the first place and provided funding to groundbreaking cancer cure research.

Biden’s Cancer Moonshot initiative is Congress’ latest partisan casualty

However, with the ever-present dysfunction of Congress, maybe predictably, the program has been stalled. Some Republicans, refusing to give Biden a “win,” voted against the renewal of funding.

Even though this would be a win for all Americans – and humanity – it apparently did not outweigh the politics of making a Democrat look good. This is the definition of party over country.

Republicans have stated budget cuts need to be made with an ever-growing debt. But where was this attitude when tax cuts for the wealthy were on the table in 2017? They don’t have to look at patients in the eye and break the devastating news that they have cancer. They don’t have to treat cancers that block intestines or drown a patient’s lungs in fluid.Cancer claims more than 600,000 American lives a year. In economic terms, it has been estimated that the annual financial burden of cancer care in this country is about $200 billion.

If throwing some government money at this will expedite a cure, then it’s still a bargain. I cared for my patient with cholangiocarcinoma through crises of pain, bowel obstructions, chemotherapy, kidney injury and, unfortunately, when he could no longer continue the fight of his cancer, his death. Besides the nurses and doctors supporting him, our patient had his family by his side.

Until recently, one could have argued that the government was also on his side, but Republicans and those who voted against funding the Moonshot Cancer initiative have made it clear that he, and other cancer patients like him, are not their priority.

Dr. Thomas K. Lew
But we, as voters, need to keep our priorities straight and focus on the health of our fellow Americans. Keep in mind who voted against the Moonshot Cancer initiative in the upcoming elections. Keep in mind those who continually vote against scientific progress, against funding for cancer research, against pandemic vaccines roll-outs or even against climate change, which is not just an existential crisis in the future but today exacerbates chronic health conditions such as asthma.Keep this in mind and vote for those who do not politicize Americans’ health. Otherwise, the country’s prognosis is bad news for all of us.

The Impact of Congress’ Vote against Funding a Cure for Cancer

One nation is the United States. And to back Congress in its role, the U.S. Constitution was formed in 1787 and went into force in 1789. The Constitution lays out the functions and roles of government, along with creating the separation of government entities. The Constitution also contains an important component called the “Taxing and Spending” Clause: Article I, Section 8, Clause 1 states, “The Congress shall have Power to lay and collect Taxes, Duties, Imposts and Excises, to pay the Debts and provide for the common Defence and general Welfare of the United States; but all Duties, Imposts and Excises shall be uniform throughout the United States.” So although members of Congress have an obligation to represent the “general welfare of the United States,” due to the federal system of government within the U.S., they also represent the “general welfare” of a particular district.

In nearly all nations, taxes are collected from the population to provide necessary public goods. However, what goods citizens expect to obtain vary from one person to the next, which results in an assortment of government allocations. This disparity creates political dilemmas in the distribution of resources.

Given power and authority to allocate the government’s spending, policymakers fund their own projects. In order to allocate government resources fairly, the needs and wants of constituents are considered and combined into a collective choice through a democratic process. In the United States, elected representatives take these values, along with their own, to the decision-making table. Once an idea is transformed into public policy, taxes are levied and funds flow to specific programs. In the United States, Congress holds the “power of the purse.” Therefore, the collective legislation that is passed by Congress results in an aggregate budget for the nation.