Cloture Motion

Floor Speech

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Mrs. MURRAY. Mr. President, this week, there are advocates here in Congress with the American Cancer Society to advocate for cancer research and prevention. This is lifesaving work, and no one does it better than our researchers.

In my home State of Washington, we have a lot of incredibly smart people who have been making a lot of incredible breakthroughs for patients, and we have a lot of passionate advocates who have been fighting to support their work. I have lost track of how many times I have visited the Fred Hutch Cancer Center, but every time, I am just blown away by the work they are doing. And they aren't the only ones.

This isn't just about advancing science though. It is about saving lives and finding new treatments and therapies and cures that give hope to help patients fighting for their lives.

Cancer research has a long history of bipartisan support here in Congress. But some of my colleagues across the aisle seem to need a reminder and a wake-up call because under President Trump, we have seen some reckless moves to undermine medical research, including cancer research. Research funding has been pulled without reason, without warning, and without any thought for the consequences.

This administration has tossed clinical trials into chaos, promising cures into limbo, and threatened to abandon our historic global research and leadership in medical research. Just this week, a new report in the New York Times detailed how research into a rare pediatric brain cancer was totally upended because Trump yanked the funding. That research is halted and that researcher is forced to move on to topics that don't rely on NIH funding.

It is worth remembering, for many of our rare, deadly diseases, cures are not viewed as a payday for private investors, which makes NIH not just the best hope for finding a cure but the only hope for desperate patients, at least before Trump came along and stopped funding.

And that new article, which details other research Trump has sidetracked as well, is just scratching the surface of how bad this is. I have heard firsthand from researchers who have seen their work disrupted and students who are considering leaving the United States to continue their studies.

I have also received heartbreaking updates from patients, like a mom in my State fighting colon cancer who had her shot at a critical clinical trial taken away by Trump's chaotic, illegal funding cuts. And now, R.F.K., Jr., has cut off all Federal funding for mRNA research, one of the most promising new technologies for cancer treatments. This is so damaging.

In addition to supporting the research that finds new cures, we also need to make sure patients can actually access and afford those cures. That means we have to protect health coverage that helps cancer patients get care. That is why I am fighting to undo damaging Medicaid cuts Republicans passed and to extend the healthcare tax credits that are helping millions of families afford coverage right now.

We have to make a strong case for cancer research and prevention with facts, science, patient stories, and our voices. And I believe speaking out can have a real impact here because when I talk to colleagues on both sides, it is clear there is consensus we should not let years of leadership fall to the wayside. In fact, in our Senate funding bill, the bipartisan bill that we passed through the Appropriations Committee, we were able to reject some of these damaging cuts and make serious investments in cancer research.

But we do have more work ahead to get these bipartisan medical research investments signed into law. I will not stop pushing for that.

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