‘Bargaining chip’: Trump allies dismantle Liz Warren’s claim GOP blocked childhood cancer research

Conservatives and allies of President-elect Trump are dismantling a narrative put forth by Democratic lawmakers such as Sen. Elizabeth Warren that Republicans blocked funding for childhood cancer research in the spending bill, pointing to a stand-alone bill that had languished in the Democratic-controlled Senate for months. 

Congress passed a pared-down spending bill early Saturday morning as the government careened toward a prolonged shutdown. The bill’s passage followed tech billionaire Elon Musk and other Trump allies slamming a more than 1,500-page piece of legislation earlier last week as "outrageous" and "​​full of excessive spending, special interest giveaways and pork barrel politics," demanding lawmakers return to the negotiation table. 

The Senate advanced a third version of a short-term funding bill on Saturday morning, following negotiations that whittled...