--- 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: 2026-10-07T06:56:31.701Z 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 > Sponsored content. 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It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, twice a week. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3/newsletters?i=bc95917f-31e4-4587-a5df-0b26c18ba4b5&cr=time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3-v1) ## Video: President Obama Signs Cancer Moonshot Bill on ‘Bittersweet Day’ [Watch (HLS stream): President Obama Signs Cancer Moonshot Bill on ‘Bittersweet Day’](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/whHhPg29.m3u8) (1:17)  _Published 2016-12-13. On a “bittersweet day” that brought back memories of loved ones lost, President Barack Obama signed into law legislation that makes new investments in cancer research and battling drug abuse._  by [Katie Reilly](https://time.com/author/katie-reilly/)  ## Katie Reilly Dec 13, 2016 5:51 PM UTC On a “bittersweet day” that brought back memories of loved ones lost, President Barack Obama signed into law legislation that makes new investments in cancer research and battling drug abuse.  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. ## Transcript [00:00] All right. [ BLANK_AUDIO ] Those of you who have [00:04] not attended this before I have to use all these pens. [00:07] [ BLANK_AUDIO ] They've [00:16] talked about the claw. [ LAUGH ] But it works for us [00:16] right? I don't care what other people think. [ LAUGH ] [00:16] Here we go. All right. [00:20] [ APPLAUSE ] [00:23] The 21st [00:37] Century Cures Act is gonna harness America's best [00:40] minds Science, medicine, and technology to [00:45] tackle some of our biggest and most complex health [00:48] challenges today. The bill commits $ 6. 3 [00:52] billion over seven years dealing with opioid addiction, [00:56] precision medicine. And the Brain Initiative, mental [00:59] illness, Alzheimer's disease and so much more. God [01:03] willing this bill will literally, not figuratively, literally save [01:07] lives. But most of all what it does, just this mere [01:10] signing today, Mr President, as you know better than I [01:13] do, gives millions of Americans hope. ```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":"2026-10-07T06:56:31.701Z","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":"https://time.com/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/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"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"President Obama Signs Cancer Moonshot Bill on ‘Bittersweet Day’","description":"On a “bittersweet day” that brought back memories of loved ones lost, President Barack Obama signed into law legislation that makes new investments in cancer research and battling drug abuse.","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/whHhPg29/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2016-12-13T21:29:59.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/whHhPg29.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/4599295/president-obama-cures-act-livestream-online/","duration":"PT1M17S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/4599295/president-obama-cures-act-livestream-online/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```