Biden, in rare appearance since stepping aside, touts moonshot program
NEW ORLEANS — President Joe Biden announced $150 million in additional funding for cancer research during a Tuesday visit to Louisiana, a rare public appearance since announcing he would not seek reelection on July 21, and one that hints that he may focus the remainder of his tenure on issues that are especially close to his heart.
The cancer “moonshot,” originally started in 2016 and relaunched two years ago, is aimed at halving cancer deaths by 2047 and improving the lives of people diagnosed with the disease. Biden’s oldest son, Beau, died of an aggressive brain cancer in 2015 at age 46, and the president routinely infuses speeches on health policy with anecdotes about his son’s ordeal and his family’s experience as caregivers watching a loved one succumb to illness.
“Imagine bringing innovations to all communities nationwide,” Biden told the crowd gathered at Tulane University, which will receive millions of dollars in funding as part of Tuesday’s announcement. “It’s not just personal, it’s probable.”
Biden, 81, announced late last month that he would not seek reelection to a second term, following a presidential debate with Republican nominee Donald Trump during which he repeatedly stumbled and sometimes had difficulty finishing his sentences. That prompted fears among many Democrats that he would struggle to defeat Trump; Biden ultimately ended his reelection bid and endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris.
Since then, Biden — who, before pulling out, had been crisscrossing the country in an effort to show that he had the energy to conduct a robust campaign — has significantly scaled back his public schedule. His only other public event this week will be a joint appearance with Harris on Friday, as the two leaders deliver an economic message in suburban Maryland.
Biden spent last weekend at his vacation home in Rehoboth Beach, Del., and is planning to spend next weekend at the presidential retreat at Camp David, Md. He is slated to speak next Monday on the first night of the Democratic National Convention in Chicago. He will then depart for vacation as the rest of the Democratic Party celebrates Harris and her running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, and outlines its goals and values to the country.
At Monday’s White House briefing, press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said Biden would devote the bulk of his remaining time in office to focusing on “initiatives that have been a key part … of his platform and how he wants to deliver for the American people.” She identified the economy, health care and foreign policy as areas where Biden will concentrate his energies.
The American people are “at the center of everything that he does, making sure we deliver for them, give them a little bit breathing room, and deal with issues that matter to them,” Jean-Pierre said.
Biden is also likely to continue facing his share of foreign policy challenges. Earlier this month, he announced a complex prisoner swap that brought several long-imprisoned Americans home from Russia. The White House is now closely watching events in the Middle East, where tensions have been growing between Israel and Iran amid a devastating war in Gaza.
Still, it is clear that much of the nation’s attention has shifted from Biden to Harris, as she travels the country holding rallies that have been greeted enthusiastically by Democratic voters. Jean-Pierre opened Tuesday’s press briefing by noting that there were “a lot of empty seats back there in the press briefing room.” And while Harris has been addressing overflow crowds of thousands of voters, Biden’s event Tuesday was attended by about 100 people.
Biden has talked about renewing the cancer moonshot — named after former president John F. Kennedy’s successful push to put Americans on the moon within a decade — since he was on the campaign trail in 2020, stressing that the United States has the medical and technological wherewithal to make strides against a disease anticipated to kill more than 600,000 Americans this year. Cancer is the second leading cause of death in America.
In its first two years, the Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health (ARPA-H), as it is officially known, has distributed more than $400 million to programs that prevent, detect and treat cancer.
The $150 million in ARPA-H spending that Biden announced Tuesday will go to researchers who are trying to more effectively remove tumors from cancer patients. The $23 million going to Tulane University will be used to create an imaging system that surgeons can use to scan a tumor during surgery, so they can determine if any cancer tissue has been left behind.
“Currently, it can take days to weeks before a surgeon knows whether all the tumor has been removed, and our goal is to get that down to 10 minutes, while the patient is still on the table,” J. Quincy Brown, an associate professor of biomedical engineering at Tulane, said in a news release. “If successful, our work would transform cancer surgery as we know it.”
Biden heralded the potential advance as a step forward in a course of treatment that can often come down to an agonizing race against the clock.
“Imagine cancer surgery that removes all the cancer the first time,” Biden said. “Compare that to today. … As we all know, cancer surgery is one of the most challenging surgeries.”
