President Joe Biden is ramping up his travel schedule this week with the midterm elections fast approaching, with the White House aiming to capitalize on momentum spurred by recent legislative achievements in Congress and dropping gas prices.
Biden is in Boston on Monday to deliver an address on his administration’s efforts to cut the number of deaths from cancer in the US in half over the next 25 years. His trip comes on the 60th anniversary of former President John F. Kennedy’s “Moonshot” speech in which Kennedy announced his goal of landing a man on the Moon. Biden’s speech will be given from the John F. Kennedy Library and Museum in Boston.
During that address, the President will announce Dr. Renee Wegrzyn will become the inaugural director of the Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health, which is a new agency that aims to “drive biomedical innovation that supports the health of all Americans.” He will also sign an executive order that will launch a National Biotechnology and Biomanufacturing Initiative, the White House said.
“All the way back in ’62, the ‘moonshot’ was announced – we’re going to have a moonshot for cancer, for real. We’re going to cure cancer over time. I’m going to lay out how to do that,” Biden told reporters ahead of his trip on Monday.
In addition to outlining his goals to combat cancer, the President on Monday highlighted projects made possible by the bipartisan infrastructure law as he looks to tout key legislative achievements to voters ahead of November’s elections.
The President touted the new spending in Boston Logan International Airport’s Terminal E, which he said would create more than 5,000 jobs and expand capacity and increase accessibility at the airport. He stressed the importance of competing with other countries like China in addition to rebuilding the nation’s infrastructure.
“We risk losing our edge as nation to China, and the rest of the world is catching up. That stops now, with investments like we’re celebrating here today,” the President said.
Biden said: “Folks, America invented modern aviation. But we’ve allowed our airports to lag behind our competitors. Today, not a single solitary American airport, not one, ranked in the top 25 in the world. The United States of America. Not one airport ranks in the top 25 in the world. What in the hell’s the matter with us? It means commerce, it means income, it means security.”
The investments in the airport include $50 million to modernize Terminal E and $12 million to improve roadways. The President said in addition to being frustrating and inconvenient for passengers, traffic jams and delays on airport runways cause air pollution that harms the environment and directly affects neighboring communities.
Biden told reporters Monday ahead of his trip to Boston: “We’re finally going to make infrastructure begin to work. We’re making a major investment as you know, up in a great city with an airport that is really behind the times, as most are. And we’re going to be spending a lot of money and we’re going to get it done quickly, and we’re going to go all through America making our airports the best in the world.”
The President will then participate in a reception for the Democratic National Committee Monday evening.
Biden’s schedule for the rest of the week, as outlined by the White House, includes a celebration at the White House for the passage of the Inflation Reduction Act – a $750 billion health care, tax and climate bill – as well as a trip to the key battleground state of Michigan.
Source: www.cnn.com