At a Senate hearing this week, Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.) attempted to confront Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. over the consequences of recent federal staffing cuts. Murray specifically used the story of one of her constituents who is battling stage-four cancer. But when Kennedy offered a direct path to help the woman, Murray seemed more interested in scoring political points than actually solving the problem — if the problem is even real.
Murray opened with an emotional anecdote: “One of my constituents — her name’s Natalie Phelps, she’s a mom of two from Bainbridge Island in Washington State — she has been fighting aggressive stage four colorectal cancer for nearly five years now.” According to Murray, Phelps's “best hope now is a clinical trial she’s participating in at the NIH Clinical Center,” but her treatment was allegedly delayed due to staff cuts across HHS and NIH.
“For stage four cancer patients like Natalie, this could mean the difference between life and death,” Murray declared. “Secretary Kennedy, how many staff have been cut from the NIH’s Clinical Center? I want a specific number.”
Kennedy didn’t have the number on hand, but offered a direct response: “If you contact my office tomorrow, I’ll look specifically into that.”
Murray snapped back, “That is not acceptable,” then repeated that she wanted an answer “by that,” referring to an undefined deadline.
Trying again, Kennedy offered, “Wouldn’t you rather get her into that clinical trial as fast as you can?” When Murray agreed, Kennedy said, “So if you contact my office tomorrow […] I want to help.”
At this point, I’m wondering if the mother of two even exists. “You are here to defend your budget,” she said dismissively, cutting off further discussion of helping Natalie. “I’m here to ask you questions about the impact of that.”
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Kennedy, apparently frustrated, replied, “You asked me about a specific case that I wanted help with.” As the exchange continued, Murray talked over him repeatedly. Kennedy finally said, “I’ve offered to help Natalie,” to which Murray replied — you guessed it — “I reclaim my time.”
“I’ve offered to help Natalie,” Kennedy repeated, before calling out the obvious: “but you don’t care. You don’t care about Natalie.”
Let’s be honest: we were all thinking this. Murray's complete lack of interest in addressing the problem in favor of exploiting the story for political points was so glaringly obvious. Naturally, Murray went on to accuse Kennedy of personally failing to assess the impact of staffing cuts on patient care, despite his insistence that he had issued guidelines stating that “no clinical trials should be affected.”
“You are here to defend cutting NIH by half,” she charged. “Do you genuinely believe that that won’t result in more stories like Natalie’s?”
Kennedy continued to reiterate his willingness to help Natalie directly. “You contact my office, senator, and I will do everything in my power to try to get Natalie into that [trial].”
It was really sad to watch Murray repeatedly refuse this help.
Democrat Rep: Brings up a constituent who's facing hardship.
— Gunther Eagleman™ (@GuntherEagleman) May 14, 2025
RFK Jr.: Okay, I want to help. Please call my office tomorrow, and I will personally ensure that she receives the help she needs.
Democrat Rep: I'm the one asking the questions!!!
These people are PATHETIC. pic.twitter.com/cgsLhwpMv9
Murray’s performance raises serious questions about her true priorities, especially after Kennedy repeatedly offered help for her constituent and was met with grandstanding instead.
This is the left in a nutshell. They’ll parade a tragic story in front of the cameras to score social justice points and manufacture outrage over “systemic failure,” but the moment someone offers a real solution, they wave it off.
It was never about helping people like Natalie. It’s always about the optics, the narrative, and the chance to dunk on the Trump administration. Compassion? That’s just a prop.
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