Remarks by President Biden and First Lady Jill Biden Before Cancer Cabinet Meeting

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Well, last year, Jill and I reignited the Cancer Moonshot and -- to end cancer as we know it and to even cure some cancers in the process. And so, it's not just personal, but it's -- it's about what's possible.

Almost everywhere we go, whether it's meeting with folks at local events or meeting with world leaders, beating cancer brings people together no matter where you are. And that's why the Cancer Moonshot was part of our Unity Agenda in -- for this administration.

The goal was to mobilize a whole-of-country effort to cut American cancer ra- -- deaths in half in the next 25 years -- or sooner, God willing -- and to boost support for patients and families in the process.

When we launched this as -- when I launched this as vice president, I literally traveled to every major cancer institute in the world. And one thing that struck me most was how siloed each of these were, how little sharing of information occurred.

And so, I -- that's why I wanted to make sure that we have a full government-wide effort on the first-ever Cabinet -- Cancer Cabinet.

One of the great things that -- that my president at the time I was -- I was vice president did was give me authority to task anyone within the Cabinet to begin to work on coordinating on the cancer effort.

And -- and so, we came up with this Cancer Cabinet to break down the silos and unleash every possible asset that was within our power. And that includes the department most folks may not think first of.

For example, I remember talking with Bill, and I said I wanted to have NASA involved. And they looked at me -- "NASA?" Well, they've forgotten more about radiation than most hospitals try to know. And they've made -- can make real contributions. Or the Department of Defense, the Department of Energy have immense supercomputing cap- -- capabilities.

And we made some important progress. We've secured $2.5 billion in bipartisan funding for -- from Congress to establish what I've long called ARPA-H, which is the Advanced Research Project Agency for Health -- not just defense, but for health -- and drive breakthroughs in prevention, diagnosis, and treatment for cancer and for other diseases, not just cancer.

And so, this was in addition to the $7.3 billion in funding we secured from the National Can- -- for the National Cancer Institute this year alone.

We signed the PACT Act into law, one of the most significant laws ever to help veterans exposed to toxic materials and provide benefits for them and their families if they didn't come home.

We passed the Inflation Reduction Act, which will cap total out-of-pocket prescription drug costs for seniors on Medicare at $2,000 a year, including expensive cancer drugs that would cost $10-, $12-, $14,000 a year.

We beat Big Pharma, giving Medicare the ability to negotiate prescription drug prices for cancer, as well as other diseases. And we're securing commitments from companies, nonprofits, and patient groups to increase screening, prevent exposure to toxic substances, deliver new research innovations, and help patients navigate the diagnosis.

Everybody needs a navigator. When you hear that word "cancer," it's like -- it's just -- anyway.

It's also creating a national network to accelerate clinical trials and ensure that each -- we reach the historical underserved communities -- historically. And there is a lot of underserved communities.

As a matter of fact, when they -- my work on trying to move on the environment and global warming, there is a lot of fenceline communities that we're cleaning up. But that's why I committed that 40 percent of all the savings were going to go to those communities.

In the next few weeks, ARPA-H will award $250 million for cancer-related research and innovation projects. We're helping people quit smoking, the single-largest driver of cancer deaths in America still. And we're modernizing our cancer research system, breaking down silos so new data is available to as many experts across the country as possible.

The bottom line is the Cancer Moonshot today embodies America as a nation of possibilities.

During the campaign, I was asked: What's the one thing I would do if I were president? What -- if I could just do one thing. I said, "I'd cure cancer," not because it's the most frightening thing that exists out there. But we used to think we could handle anything, and cancer -- we sort of gave up on the notion that we could -- we could cure cancer.

Everything we've ever put our mind to we've been able to do. And I was trying to make the point that it's essential that we keep that spirit and keep that -- that sense.

And I said, "Beating cancer," because we can, because I wanted to inject a sense of optimism in what we can do as a country.

But there is still a lot more work to do. And that -- that's focusing today on -- that's why we're here today, to coordinate as much as we can, find out the progress we're making among the Cancer Cabinet.

And with that, I'll turn it over to Jill.

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