Greene, Boebert only lawmakers to vote against bone marrow transplant bill

First-term GOP Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene (Ga.) and Lauren Boebert (Colo.) were the only lawmakers to vote against a bill to reauthorize a bone marrow transplant program on Thursday evening. 

The measure passed the House 415-2. It reauthorizes the C.W. Bill Young Cell Transplantation Program and National Cord Blood Inventory, which facilitate bone marrow and umbilical cord blood donations and transplants for people with leukemia or other blood diseases.

The bill also directs the Department of Health and Human Services to conduct a review of the state of the science on using adult stem cells and birthing tissues to develop new therapies that could potentially be included in the program.

The bipartisan measure was sponsored by Reps. Doris Matsui (D-Calif.), Gus Bilirakis (R-Fla.) and Chellie Pingree (D-Maine). 

Greene and Boebert, both vocal supporters of former President Trump, have quickly established reputations as controversial figures. 

Greene wrote on Twitter that the bill did not have sufficient protections against the use of fetal tissue. 

“The Fake News Media is attacking me for being TOO PRO-LIFE (100%),” she tweeted. “Last night, Congress passed a bill which is not clear about preventing buying of body parts of babies murdered in the womb. I voted NO.”

In a separate statement on Friday, Greene also said the bill was rushed.

“The whole reason we are nearly $30 trillion in debt, have murdered over 62 million people in the womb, and have ZERO transparency on our spending is because Congress does not take the time to fully read and understand the bills it passes,” she said.

“I’m not voting for bills that don’t go through committee and add hundreds of millions of dollars to the national debt,” Boebert tweeted on Friday. The bill authorizes about $50 million per year for the transplant programs, though it will take an appropriations bill passing to actually spend that money.

Greene has been surrounded by controversy ever since coming to Congress. In February, she apologized to GOP colleagues for her past embrace of QAnon and other conspiracy theories, and the House voted to remove her from her committee assignments over previous endorsements of racist dogma and violence against Democratic politicians.

Matsui released a statement Thursday praising the bill’s passage and calling on the Senate to act. 

“Every three minutes, someone is diagnosed with a blood cancer,” she said. “For patients and families facing these fatal diseases, a bone marrow or cord blood transplant may be the best treatment or only potential for a cure.”

Updated: 9 p.m.