Meghan McCain spoke out against fellow Republicans in an emotional now-deleted X post Tuesday, saying she is “absolutely heartbroken” that the government’s recently passed government spending bill slashes funding set aside to research the cancer that killed her father.
“My fellow Republicans—this is wrong," she wrote on social media, reported HuffPost.
McCain’s late father, Sen. John McCain, died in 2018 of a brain cancer called glioblastoma. McCain said that the National Institute of Health (NIH) has produced glioblastoma treatments that are “nothing short of a miracle.” At risk is the Defense Department’s Congressionally Directed Medical Research Program (CDMRP), which typically funds various cancer research programs through the National Institutes of Health.
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President Donald Trump signed the six-month funding bill to avoid a government shutdown that also approved a 57 percent funding cut to the CDMRP, the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network said last month. Out of nearly $860 million that was sliced, $185 million was taken from cancer programs alone. Funding for glioblastoma programs in 2024 totaled $10 million. Now, it won’t get any research funding at all, along with three other types of cancer; kidney cancer, lung cancer and pancreatic cancer.
The CDMRP was originally established by the Department of Defense in 1993 to eliminate breast cancer and has since funded various programs to save the lives of military service members, veterans, and the American public.
“I am absolutely heartbroken at the news the funding for brain cancer research has been completely cut from NIH,” the former The View co-host wrote. “My father and millions of others have been treated there for Glioblastoma and other brain cancers with miracle doctors and nurses.”
McCain’s father died only a year after his 2017 diagnosis. There is currently no cure for glioblastoma.
“Some government spending is needed and appropriate—cancer research is one of them," she wrote. “I am heartbroken by this.
“Those of us who are part of the brain cancer community are mourning today,” she said. “America and NIH have always been a beacon of hope for those of us praying for a cure.”
Shortly after McCain posted her remarks, she deleted them without explanation.
McCain faced backlash for the post from an onslaught of Democrats, who claimed she was only able to understand the threats of funding cuts when they personally impact her.
American Cancer Society President Lisa Lacasse thanked McCain for her X post before it was deleted.
“Thank you, @MeghanMcCain for amplifying the critical importance of cancer research," she said. “We appreciate you using your voice on behalf of cancer patients & their loved ones nationwide.”
Congress’s move to chop cancer research funding comes at a time when Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has announced that he’s cutting a quarter of his department’s staff, including at the NIH and other government agencies. He is laying off 10,000 workers and prompting 10,000 others to take early retirement or voluntary separation offers.
Kennedy celebrated the overhaul on X as he announced new hires, writing: “The revolution begins today!”
