First lady pushes cancer work
Disease ‘doesn’t care who you vote for,’ Jill Biden tells group
NEW ORLEANS — First lady Jill Biden visited a medical center in New Orleans on Friday to stress the importance of cancer research, a priority in the budget proposal President Joe Biden sent to Congress.
The Democratic president’s overall budget plan has been roundly criticized by Republicans and won’t make it through Congress intact.
But Biden is hoping the fight against cancer will find bipartisan support.
The first lady briefly touted her husband’s budget plan but the tone of the event was largely apolitical.
“Cancer doesn’t care who you vote for,” she told state and city leaders, doctors and researchers gathered for her visit.
She was introduced by U.S.
Sen. Bill Cassidy, who was at her side during her speech and tour at the Louisiana
Cancer Research Center.
Cassidy had joined his fellow Republicans a day earlier in criticizing the president’s overall budget plan. His remarks Friday stressed the need for early detection and treatment to prevent colorectal cancer deaths.
And he said researchers can address Louisiana’s disproportionate number of colorectal cancer deaths “with the aid of the cancer moonshot,” a reference to the president’s cancer-fighting initiative.
Cassidy and his wife, Laura, who also was part of the tour, are physicians. They were joined by Democratic Rep. Troy Carter and New Orleans Mayor Latoya Cantrell as they viewed laboratories and heard information on the center’s research and treatment efforts.
The president made fighting cancer part of the “unity agenda” that he outlined near the beginning of his administration, and he’s asked Congress to approve $2.8 billion to advance the goal.
President Biden has set a goal of reducing cancer death rates by half over the next 25 years.