President Biden, First Lady Jill Biden to fly to New Orleans on Tuesday for cancer initiative event

WASHINGTON (Gray DC) - President Joe Biden and First Lady Jill Biden are flying to New Orleans on Tuesday to attend a cancer “moonshot” event.

The event is part of the Biden Cancer Moonshot initiative, which the president and first lady first launched during the Obama administration. It aims to cut the cancer death rate in half over 25 years.

Tuesday’s announcement will be “a very big announcement,” according to New Orleans area Congressman Troy Carter (D-LA).

“I won’t preempt his good news, but it will be a very good, announcement of additional money, real money, to directly deal with what he has deemed as the goal to lessen the blows of cancer by 50%,” said Rep. Carter.

American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network President Lisa Lacasse said on Tuesday that the president’s visit to New Orleans will also help elevate the conversation about fighting cancer.

“It means everyone’s thinking about it, everyone’s talking about it,” said Lacasse. “So when you’ve got an initiative like the moonshot and you’re talking about cancer, then that creates an opportunity for more of a narrative and to really help us elevate why this is so important.”

Lacasse added that the initiative has been fruitful for the cause and has highlighted the critical role that elected leaders play in the fight against cancer.

“For us, moonshot has produced a lot over the last four years. We’re looking forward to continuing to keep cancer public policy issues a priority, whomever is in the White House coming up... every single member of Congress, every administration, governor’s offices across the country, state legislatures, they have a lot of power, to help reduce barriers to access to care.”

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