Administration of Joseph R. Biden, Jr., 2021

March 3, 2021

The President. Hey, everyone. Thanks. Thanks for coming in. These are Members of the House, SenateâDemocrat, Republicanâwho all have an extremely keen interest in doing what I said once before: that I'd love to be the President to preside over the end of cancer as we know it. These are the folks in the House and Senate who would love to preside over cancerâthe end of cancer as we know it. And they all were critical in the CARES Act, which put about $9 billion into NIH to deal with cancer and cancer research.

And the Vice President and I are of the view that we can make significant strides in fighting cancer and Alzheimer's and other diseases, if we take a slightly different approach. And what I want to talk with them about today is how we go about taking advantage of the work they've done to get us where we are today, because I think we're on the cusp of some real breakthroughs across the board on cancer. And that's what we're going to talk about.

And probably to all of you, like all of us, cancer is personal for almost everybody. It's probably the one word that is the most frightening word in the English language to people. When they hear that "C word," cancer, it is just devastating.

And I always ask atâwhen I talk about cancer, I ask the audience if theyâto raise their hand, if any of them were suffering from cancer as I spoke, and/or they lost someone, and virtually 70 percent of every audienceâwhether or not it's 4,000 people or 400 people. And a lot of folks in this room have, like many of you Iâmaybe have been victims of cancer and overcome it.

But there's so much hope that that's what I want to talk about with these folksâabout what we do, from a legislative and a substance point of view, to make the kind of inroads I think we can make. That's what we're talking about today.

Thank you for coming in. And we'reâI'm optimistic we're going to get something done here.

Rocket Attacks at Ayn Al Asad Air Base in Anbar Province, Iraq

Q. Mr. President, troopsâU.S. troops were targeted with rocket attacks. Any response?

The President. We are following that through right now. Thank God no one was killed by the rocket. One individual, a contractor, died of a heart attack. But we're identifying who is responsible, and we'll make judgments from that point.

Okay? Thank you.

Removal of Texas State Mask Mandate/Coronavirus Prevention Efforts

Q. Do you have a response to Texas relaxing its COVID restrictions?

The President. I didn't hear the question.

Q. Message to Texas and MississippiâTexas and Mississippi?

Q. [Inaudible]âCOVID restrictions?

The President. Texas, I think it's a big mistake. Look, I hope everybody has realized by now: These masks make a difference.

We are on the cusp of being able to fundamentally change the nature of this disease because of the way in which we're able to get vaccines in people's arms. We've been able to move that all the way up to the end of May to have enough for every American to getâevery adult American to get a shot. And the last thingâthe last thingâwe need is Neanderthal thinking that, in the meantime, everything is fine, take off your mask.

Forget it. It still matters.

I carry a card with meâI don't have it. I put it on my desk. As of lastâas of yesterday, we had lost 511,874 Americans. We're going to lose thousands more. This will not occurâwe'll not have everybody vaccinated until sometime in the summer. We have the vaccine to do it. Getting a shot in someone's arm and getting the second shot are going to take time. And it's criticalâ critical, critical, criticalâthat they follow the science: Wash your handsâhot water; do it frequently. Wear a mask. And stay socially distanced.

And I know you all know that. I wish the heck some of our elected officials knew it. So thank you very much.

NOTE: The President spoke at 1:50 p.m. in the Oval Office at the White House. Participating in the meeting were Sens. Patricia L. Murray, Richard J. Durbin, Christopher Van Hollen, Jr., Roy

D. Blunt, Michael D. Crapo; and Reps. Diana L. DeGette, Anna G. Eshoo, Frederick S. Upton, and S. Brett Guthrie.

Categories: Addresses and Remarks : Cancer, Members of Congress, meeting with President; Interviews With the News Media : Exchanges with reporters :: White House.

Locations: Washington, DC.

Names: Harris, Kamala D.

Subjects: Congress : Members, meetings with President; Diseases : Cancer research, prevention, and treatment; Diseases : Coronavirus, domestic prevention efforts; Health and medical care : Research and development; Iraq : Rocket attacks at Ayn Al Asad Air Base in Anbar Province; White House Office : Vice President.

DCPD Number: DCPD202100188.