While we continue to wait and see if a continuing resolution of any kind will be hammered out by day’s end, Democrats have gone back to their playbook to pull out the “WHAT ABOUT THE CHILDREN” card.

Specifically, this time, children with cancer. Among the spending in the first CR bill, which got picked apart by DOGE, Republican congresspeople, and many online, was funding for pediatric cancer research. This has now become the talking point for media leftists and Democrats in office who are whining about the bill. Senator Brian Schatz of Hawaii was particularly colorful about this issue.

Fuck cancer. Especially pediatric cancer. These people want to punish these precious little kids to pay for tax cuts for the wealthiest corporations in human history.

— Brian Schatz (@brianschatz) December 19, 2024

“Journalist” Sam Stein of the Bulwark and MSNBC lamented the loss of the funding as Elon Musk’s fault. Everything is Elon’s fault now.

NEW: Pediatric cancer research advocates spent years building up to this week. They celebrated when their priorities were included in the CR. And then, Elon began tweeting pic.twitter.com/PXZTKBzELd

— Sam Stein (@samstein) December 20, 2024

It never fails. Democrats always, always, ALWAYS find the most sympathetic part of a pork-stuffed bill, start beating Republicans over the head with it, and then the media amplifies it to the point that Republicans look like heartless baby-killers if they don’t vote for everything in the crap sandwich.

Except this time, the Democrats and their media lackeys forgot one thing – or, in Sam Smith’s case, were forced to admit later. The Democrats were offered a clean funding bill for pediatric cancer research. The House passed it – in MARCH OF THIS YEAR. Chuck Schumer refused to bring it to a vote in the Senate. Why? Because they wanted to use it as leverage in the crap sandwich! And the media aided and abetted that lie.

Flagging the above for Brian here as a vote on that House-passed pediatric cancer research funding has gone nine months without a vote from him and his friends in the Senatehttps://t.co/o4x50Zjk5I

— Greg Price (@greg_price11) December 20, 2024

Why did we just learn that the cancer research legislation passed the House months ago and Senate Democrats held it up FOR THE VERY PURPOSE of being able to use it now to push through a garbage Omnibus bill?

The media. The media said NOTHING while the money was held up.

— RBe (@RBPundit) December 20, 2024

Oh. So it wasn’t REALLY all about the children suffering from cancer, was it? If it was, Democrats would have pressed on Schumer to bring the bill forward in the Senate, it would have passed, and Biden would have signed it. This entire exercise has been about trying to go back to the playbook to blame Republicans, but thanks to the speed of X and the story now being amplified by none other than Elon himself, the Democrats are finding themselves with egg all over their faces.

Lyin’ Liz strikes againhttps://t.co/RDtVycJjUc https://t.co/gzbmzIqDOW

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) December 20, 2024

Politics is a cynical business. We should all know that by now, but this is how the proverbial sausage gets made. If you don’t want sausage, then funding must be passed via standalone bills. It’s pretty clear that the Democrats want the pork-laden omnibus spending bills, because among the virtuous things that they want to promote, like pediatric cancer research funding, there is a shit ton of goodies stuffed inside. Perhaps Joe Biden, who is STILL PRESIDENT, could exert a little pressure on Democrats to maybe pass the standalone bill now? After all, this is the same guy who pushed “cancer moonshots” for years now – why wouldn’t he want to push Democrats in the Senate to pass this bill? Oh, because Joe Biden is a) dead, and b) a cynical bastard who does not really care about cancer patients except his own late son, as we saw clearly illustrated recently by his pardon of a doctor who watered down chemotherapy drugs for cancer patients.

Speaking of Joe Biden, everyone is pretty much admitting that he has completely checked out.

More than a half-dozen House Democratic lawmakers said Thursday that the conference had yet to hear from the president, even as Congress scrambled to salvage a funding deal and avoid shutting down the government.

In the 24 hours since President-elect Donald Trump and close ally Elon Musk abruptly derailed the bipartisan agreement, Biden has remained conspicuously absent outside a brief statement issued by his press secretary — and for now, Democrats said there was little clamor for him to return.

“I haven’t gotten any message from President Biden, or heard of anything that he’s saying,” said Rep. Mark Takano (D-Calif.). “Elon’s the shot-caller, it’s pretty clear to me.”

But as lawmakers searched for a way forward, no one seemed to be looking to Biden for answers — and the lame-duck president gave no indication he had any desire to provide them.

“I haven’t spoken to him,” Rep. Rosa DeLauro, the Democrats’ top appropriator, said of Biden, adding that she didn’t expect to in the near future. “I’ve spoken to the White House. I think their view is, ‘we had a deal.”

Biden aides and allies cast the president’s silence over the last day-and-a-half as a strategic decision. Trump is now poised to take the blame for any shutdown, they argued, damaging him politically even before he takes office. And they contend that anything Biden says now would risk hardening the GOP’s resolve, making it more difficult to strike a deal.

Still, the president’s absence underscores a jarring reality that officials in both parties said has become clear since the November election: While Biden technically still runs the country, Trump — and increasingly Musk — are the real captains now.

This is now being termed “quiet quitting” by the media, and coupled with the Wall Street Journal‘s report about his cognitive decline, it means that Democrats have no active leader, as no one cares what Kamala Harris is currently up to, either.

This leaves Chuck Schumer and Hakeem Jeffries holding the bag. With Nancy Pelosi sidelined after breaking her hip, do either of them have the clout or ability to keep their caucuses in line, especially with an AWOL president who supposedly should care about his own legacy? Democrats want to keep pinning the blame on Republicans, but that’s hard when their guy is still sitting in the Oval Office, drooling, but still invested with the power of the presidency, which Donald Trump currently does NOT have. All Trump has is the promise of power in thirty days, and a Republican caucus wanting to work with him. Will that be enough to get a CR passed?

After two failed votes yesterday, Republican leadership in the House is now saying that they have another CR ready. It remains to be seen if they can get it passed through the House. If they do, though, then it becomes Chuck Schumer’s problem in the Senate. At this point, Republicans should work to get anything passed and sent to the Senate, because if the Senate fails to pick it up and vote on it, then it becomes the Democrats’ problem. You know, like the pediatric cancer research funding bill.

UPDATE 9 PM ET
Well, I guess stepping on a rake didn’t feel good, so the Senate passed the funding bill that Schumer has been holding for the last nine months.

Senate passes the kids cancer bill (already passed by the house) after a bunch of people spent 2 days pretending that not including it in the CR along with a ton of other items was the equivalent of denying the funding. https://t.co/lTGKpPqE1a

— AG (@AGHamilton29) December 21, 2024

The Democrats got thrououghly wedgied in public on X over this, and it serves them right.

Featured image via Proulain on Pixabay, cropped, Pixabay license