--- title: President Obama Signs 21st Century Cures Act: Watch Live description: President Barack Obama on Tuesday afternoon will sign the 21st Century Cures Act, which passed Congress with bipartisan support canonical: https://time.com/4599295/president-obama-cures-act-livestream-online/ author: Katie Reilly article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-12-13T17:51:33.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-23T02:17:00.865Z article:section: Politics og:title: Watch Live: President Obama Signs the 21st Century Cures Act og:description: The bill passed Congress with significant bipartisan support og:url: https://time.com/4599295/president-obama-cures-act-livestream-online/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta81e2c04cb46bc94/6988b2c1ab6d7799f66ac3e6/barack-obama-century-cures-act.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 3000 og:image:height: 1688 og:image:alt: 2016 Presidential Medal Of Freedom Ceremony og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Watch Live: President Obama Signs the 21st Century Cures Act twitter:description: The bill passed Congress with significant bipartisan support twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta81e2c04cb46bc94/6988b2c1ab6d7799f66ac3e6/barack-obama-century-cures-act.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Watch Live: President Obama Signs the 21st Century Cures Act  by [Katie Reilly](https://time.com/author/katie-reilly/)  ## Katie Reilly Dec 13, 2016 5:51 PM UTC  President Barack Obama speaks during the 2016 Presidential Medal Of Freedom ceremony at the White House on Nov. 22, 2016 in Washington, D.C. President Barack Obama speaks during the 2016 Presidential Medal Of Freedom ceremony at the White House on Nov. 22, 2016 in Washington, D.C.Leigh Vogel—WireImage  by [Katie Reilly](https://time.com/author/katie-reilly/)  ## Katie Reilly Dec 13, 2016 5:51 PM UTC President Obama on Tuesday afternoon will [sign the 21st Century Cures Act](https://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2016/12/12/3-letters-explain-why-president-obama-signing-cures-act), which passed Congress with bipartisan support. The [bill](http://docs.house.gov/billsthisweek/20161128/CPRT-114-HPRT-RU00-SAHR34.pdf) speeds up the approval process for new drugs and medical devices and expands funding for medical research, including the “[cancer moonshot](http://time.com/4494104/joe-biden-cancer-moonshot/)” initiative led by [Vice President Joe Biden](http://time.com/4178412/cancer-state-of-the-union-barack-obama-sotu/). The funding will also aid research on opioid abuse and brain diseases, including Alzheimer’s. Obama and Biden are scheduled to deliver remarks about the bill at about 2 p.m. E.T. Watch it live above. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4599295/president-obama-cures-act-livestream-online/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4599295/president-obama-cures-act-livestream-online/"},"headline":"Watch Live: President Obama Signs the 21st Century Cures Act","datePublished":"2016-12-13T17:51:33.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-23T02:17:00.865Z","description":"The bill passed Congress with significant bipartisan support","url":"https://time.com/4599295/president-obama-cures-act-livestream-online/","keywords":["White House","Barack Obama","Joe Biden","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta81e2c04cb46bc94/6988b2c1ab6d7799f66ac3e6/barack-obama-century-cures-act.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Katie Reilly","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/katie-reilly/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta81e2c04cb46bc94/6988b2c1ab6d7799f66ac3e6/barack-obama-century-cures-act.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"2016 Presidential Medal Of Freedom Ceremony","caption":"2016 Presidential Medal Of Freedom Ceremony","creditText":"Leigh Vogel—WireImage","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/white-house/","name":"White House"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4599295/president-obama-cures-act-livestream-online/","name":"Watch Live: President Obama Signs the 21st Century Cures Act"}}]}] ```