ICYMI: Trump White House Shuts Down Lifesaving Cancer Research Arrow

New reporting revealed that Donald Trump's administration is once again gutting funding for cancer research by canceling hundreds of millions of dollars in grants and contracts.

In response, DNC Rapid Response Director Kendall Witmer released the following statement:

"Donald Trump and his Cabinet are irresponsibly gutting cancer research that is crucial to making medical breakthroughs and saving lives. Every dollar he rips away from cancer research is a setback for patients, families, and the doctors and scientists on the frontlines of fighting this disease -and puts the future of medical advancement at risk. Millions of Americans know the heartbreak of cancer, but instead of supporting patients and doctors, Trump is pulling the plug on lifesaving medical progress - it's just cruel."

Key points from the New York Times reporting:

• In a matter of months, the Trump administration has canceled hundreds of millions of dollars in cancer-related research grants and contracts, arguing that they were part of politically driven D.E.I. initiatives, and suspended or delayed payments for hundreds of millions more.
• It has terminated hundreds of government employees who helped lead the country's cancer-research system and ensured that new discoveries reached clinicians, cancer patients and the American public.
• To Republicans and Democrats, biomedical research - and cancer research, in particular - was sacrosanct.
• Now an extraordinarily successful scientific research system - one that took decades to build, has saved millions of lives and generated billions of dollars in profits for American companies and investors - is being dismantled before our eyes.
• "It's an absolutely unmitigated disaster," Lauer told me. "It will take decades to recover from this, if we ever do."
• America's investment in cancer research has rippled out far beyond cancer. Investigating the molecular biology of one disease can naturally lead to discoveries about other ones - a phenomenon that scientists call convergence. It was cancer research that led to the creation of treatments for H.I.V. and hepatitis C, and to a vaccine for hepatitis B. … America's prodigious investment in cancer research also helped jump-start the biotechnology industry, a powerful engine of medical innovation in its own right.

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