Political petulance, complacency halt pediatric priority review program

On the night of Dec. 21, Rand Paul rose from his seat on the floor of the Senate and spoke two words: “I object.” With those words, the junior Republican Senator from Kentucky brought the rare pediatric priority review voucher program to an abrupt halt — at least for now.

Paul was addressing a request for unanimous consent to add reauthorization of the program to legislation preventing a government shutdown...