Category Archives: News & Photo Features

Biden Administration, Gun Violence Prevention, Joe Biden, News & Photo Features, President Joe Biden

Biden Establishes First-Ever Office of Gun Violence Prevention

September 22, 2023 krubin

President Biden announces the formation of the first-ever Office of Gun Violence Prevention, to be overseen by Vice President Kamala Harris. Congressman Maxwell Frost (D-FL), a gun violence survivor and gun violence prevention activist was on hand for the announcement at the White House © Karen Rubin/news-photos-features.com via MSNBC.

By Karen Rubin, news-photos-features.com

For those who insist the 2^nd Amendment is absolute and government has no authority to regulate guns, look to the preamble of the Constitution, the authority is written there: “to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity.”

It’s a shonda that in face of 31,394 gun deaths and 506 mass shootings so far this year- that President Biden has felt the need to establish the first-ever Office of Gun Violence Prevention. Headed by Vice President Kamala Harris, it is aimed at providing aid and comfort to communities after yet another incident of gun violence, in the same way FEMA does after a disaster, recognizing the trauma and dislocation of communities after such events. The office will also see to fully implement the provisions of the Safer Communities Act – the first serious gun control legislation in nearly 30 years – enact the many gun-safety Executive Orders, and see where new measures need to be taken.

President Biden also vowed to see renewed legislation banning assault weapons and high-capacity magazines, and gave a long list of actions that Congress must take to end the scourge, the epidemic of gun violence that is uniquely “American.”

The new Office of Gun Violence Prevention will be overseen by Vice President Harris, who has been a been a key leader in the Biden-Harris Administration’s effort to end our nation’s gun violence epidemic. Stefanie Feldman, a longtime policy advisor to President Biden on gun violence prevention, will serve as Director of the Office of Gun Violence Prevention, alongside leading gun violence prevention advocates Greg Jackson and Rob Wilcox, who will join the Administration as Deputy Directors of the Office of Gun Violence Prevention.

“Every time I’ve met with families impacted by gun violence as they mourn their loved ones, and I’ve met with so many throughout the country, they all have the same message for their elected officials: ‘do something.’ It’s why, last year, I signed the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act to keep guns out of dangerous hands, and have taken more executive action than any President in history to keep communities safe. But as I’ve said before – while these are important steps, they are just the first steps toward what is needed,” President Biden said at a ceremony announcing the office.

“That’s why I’m announcing additional steps forward, with the first-ever White House Office of Gun Violence Prevention, overseen by Vice President Harris, to build upon these measures and keep Americans safe. The Office will include Stefanie Feldman, who has capably led my Administration’s gun violence prevention efforts and been a trusted aide for more than a decade, alongside leading experts Greg Jackson and Rob Wilcox whose own lives and families have been touched by the tragedy of gun violence. They have turned their pain into purpose and dedicated their careers to being advocates for change – that important work will continue as they join my team in these new roles.

“I’ll continue to urge Congress to take commonsense actions that the majority of Americans support like enacting universal background checks and banning assault weapons and high-capacity magazines. But in the absence of that sorely-needed action, the Office of Gun Violence Prevention along with the rest of my Administration will continue to do everything it can to combat the epidemic of gun violence that is tearing our families, our communities, and our country apart,” Biden said.

The Office of Gun Violence Prevention builds on historic actions taken by President Biden to end gun violence in our country: including signing the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act, the most significant legislative action in nearly 30 years aimed at doing so, and taking more meaningful executive action than any other president to make our schools, churches, grocery stores, and communities safer.

The Biden-Harris Administration has worked to implement the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act, the most significant gun violence prevention legislation in nearly 30 years. This legislation is already saving lives by keeping guns out of the hands of individuals under 21 who are prohibited from purchasing firearms, empowering the Justice Department with new authorities to prosecute firearms traffickers, improving access to mental health services in our schools to help young people deal with the trauma and grief resulting from gun violence, and investing in community violence interventions.

The Biden-Harris Administration has announced dozens of executive actions to: keep especially dangerous weapons and repeat shooters off our streets; hold rogue gun dealers and gun traffickers accountable; provide law enforcement with the tools and resources they need to reduce gun violence; and address the root causes of gun violence. Most recently, the Justice Department’s Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives – a critical leader in work to reduce gun violence – proposed a rule to reduce the number of guns sold without background checks and keep guns out of the hands of criminals.

President Biden continues to call on Congress to take additional action, including by:

Banning assault weapons and high-capacity magazines;
Requiring safe storage of firearms;
Requiring background checks for all gun sales;
Eliminating gun manufacturers’ immunity from liability; and

Enacting his Safer America Plan, which would put more police officers on our streets for accountable, community policing and invest in gun violence prevention and intervention.

“Every person and every child deserves the opportunity to fulfill their dreams and live up to their God-given potential. Every family, in every community, should have the freedom to live and to thrive,” Vice President Kamala Harris stated. “We know true freedom is not possible if people are not safe. This epidemic of gun violence requires urgent leadership to end the fear and trauma that Americans experience every day. The new Office of Gun Violence Prevention will play a critical role in implementing President Biden’s and my efforts to reduce violence to the fullest extent under the law, while also engaging and encouraging Congressional leaders, state and local leaders, and advocates to come together to build upon the meaningful progress that we have made to save lives. Our promise to the American people is this: we will not stop working to end the epidemic of gun violence in every community, because we do not have a moment, nor a life to spare.”

New York City Climate Marchers Demand Action Now to End Climate Crisis

September 17, 2023 krubin

New York City Climate March, 2023 © Karen Rubin/news-photos-features.com

By Karen Rubin, News-Photos-Features.com

Ahead of the United Nations General Assembly this week when leaders including President Biden will make speeches, tens of thousands came out from around the country and around the world to march in New York City to demand political and corporate leaders take sweeping Climate Action – not incremental steps – to address the climate crisis and end the use of fossil fuels that are heating the planet beyond habitability.

“We’re on a pathway to lose everything, Peter Kalmus, a climate scientist at the NASA Jet Propulsion Lab (speaking for himself), declared at a rally before the march stepped off. “The cause of heatwaves are fossil fuels, and leaders including Biden are still approving fossil projects. It’s insanity… This can’t be reversed. Stop fossil fuels or ramp down as soon as possible. I’m terrified for the future. Burning, flooding, smoke, heat waves. How will we feed 8 billion people? Heat waves will kill millions. Every year is worse, the planet is hotter. .. This is the only planet in our universe with life. We are on the brink of a 6^th mass extinction. A dead planet has no economy, no politics. There is no solution – not carbon capture, not planting trees. There is no plan to deal with the decreasing habitability. We must come together. Fight.”

They weren’t giving Biden any credit, either, for passing against all odds the largest climate action program ever, funded with billions of dollars, directed at thousands of communities. He isn’t getting credit for an across-government policy of climate justice, or putting millions of acres of land under federal protection, including canceling all remaining oil and gas leases issued under the Trump administration in the Arctic Refuge and protecting more than 13 million acres in the Western Arctic.

“Biden, you should be scared of us,” declared Emma Buretta, 17, a New York City high school student and an organizer with the Fridays for Future movement,. “If you want our vote, if you don’t want the blood of our generations to be on your hands, end fossil fuels.”

They are calling on Biden to declare a climate emergency and “end fossil fuels”, as if he actually had such unbounded power to shut down fossil fuels. But look around: the Christo Fascist majority on the Supreme Court did not even allow him to mandate masks or vaccinations during a deadly pandemic. The court overturned the EPA’s ability to protect wetlands. The courts are overturning DACA, gun control, and Republicans in Congress and at the state level have battled back against climate action – Republican in Congress trying to repeal the Inflation Reduction Act that funds so much climate action; Republican Governors like the POTUS-wannabe Ron DeSantis actually making it illegal to address climate action, even as he takes billions of dollars in federal aid to restore Floridians’ lives after yet another historic hurricane, and Republican-dominated state legislatures making it illegal to accept federal money for climate projects and Republican Attorneys General suing to stop giving incentives for electric vehicles.

So are these young people suggesting they don’t vote, so that a Republican – maybe Trump, maybe some other – will take over and do what Trump did after Obama: reverse course on climate action, pull the United States out of the Paris Agreement?

Instead of threatening not to vote for Biden, if they want to end the Climate Crisis, they should threaten not to vote for any Republican at any level of government.

Here are more photo highlights:

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© 2023 News & Photo Features Syndicate, a division of Workstyles, Inc. All rights reserved. For editorial feature and photo information, go to www.news-photos-features.com, email [email protected]. Blogging at www.dailykos.com/blogs/NewsPhotosFeatures. ‘Like’ us on

Biden Administration, Health Care, News & Photo Features

FACT SHEET: White House Cancer Moonshot Announces New Actions, Commitments to End Cancer as We Know It

September 13, 2023 krubin

Today, President Joe Biden and First Lady Jill Biden convened a meeting of the Cancer Cabinet to announce new actions federal agencies are taking to advance the mission of the White House Cancer Moonshot, as well as new commitments the Biden-Harris Administration has secured from non-governmental organizations and the private sector to deliver progress on the mission to end cancer as we know it.

Last year, the President and First Lady reignited the Cancer Moonshot with the goals of reducing the cancer death rate in the United States by at least half—preventing more than 4 million cancer deaths—by 2047 and improving the experience of people who are touched by cancer. The President also established a Cancer Cabinet to mobilize the entire Biden-Harris Administration in pursuit of these ambitious goals. In the time since, the Cancer Moonshot has announced roughly 50 new programs, policies, and resources and secured more than 100 commitments from private companies, non-profit organizations, patient groups, and more toward the President’s and First Lady’s goals.

Accelerating the fight against cancer is a core component of the President’s Unity Agenda, a set of priorities that Americans from every walk of life can support. In his State of the Union address earlier this year, President Biden laid out a bold vision to advance his Unity Agenda, including the work of the Cancer Moonshot, specifically by driving innovation that changes patient outcomes, providing support to families as they navigate a cancer diagnosis, and preventing cancer by tackling the biggest single driver of cancer deaths in this country—smoking. Today’s actions build on the progress the Cancer Moonshot has delivered since then, and at today’s Cancer Cabinet meeting, the President and First Lady will hear from Cabinet leaders on the progress made and the important work ahead.

“Joe Biden is determined to be a president for all Americans,” White House deputy chief of staff Bruce Reed said in a statement Tuesday. “That is why his Unity Agenda is about making progress on the biggest challenges we all face regardless of party. At his direction, the entire federal government is mobilizing like never before to end cancer as we know it.”

Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health is announcing $240 million in investments to fund research and innovators this year for cancer-related projects, as well as a new partnership with the NIH, the National Cancer Institute to launch a so-called Biomedical Data Fabric Toolbox, which the administration says will be “the first step toward transforming data accessibility across all medical domains.”

In addition, new programs from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Health Resources and Services Administration, the Department of Health and Human Services, the Department of Veterans Affairs, and the Environmental Protect Agency will seek to expand cancer care to underserved communities, reduce the impact of smoking in underserved, minority, tribal, and veterans’ communities, and invest in community centers offering cancer screenings.

And NASA, in partnership with the International Space Station, will also announce funding for in-orbit research projects to advance cancer technology.

Biden unveiled his “Cancer Cabinet,” as part of his administration’s broader Cancer Moonshot initiative in 2022. It’s made up of representatives from the Departments of Health and Human Services, Veterans Affairs, Defense, Energy and Agriculture, as well as the Environmental Protection Agency, the National Institutes of Health, the National Cancer Institute and others across the executive branch.

For her part, First Lady Jill Biden has used her platform to support cancer patients and their families, participating in more than 40 Cancer Moonshot events in 16 cities across almost a dozen states, per the White House.

The issue remains a personal one for the Biden family – both have had cancerous lesions removed as part of routine checkups, while their son, Beau Biden, died of a glioblastoma brain tumor in 2015.

Today’s announcements from the Biden Cancer Moonshot include:

$240 million in additional investment this year to accelerate new ways to prevent, detect, treat, and survive cancer. The Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health (ARPA-H) will award an additional $240 million to researchers and innovators this year for cancer-related projects. This includes projects to develop new tools to detect cancers early, when cancers are most treatable; produce innovative approaches to visualize cancer cells during surgery to improve patient outcomes through the Precision Surgical Interventions program; pursue new treatment approaches, like directing bacteria to kill cancer inside the body; and design devices that could deliver treatments directly to cancer cells to treat tumors more effectively.
A new “biomedical data fabric toolbox” to advance cancer research progress. ARPA-H is partnering with the National Institutes of Health, the National Cancer Institute (NCI), and other agencies to develop a new Biomedical Data Fabric Toolbox for Cancer. Starting with cancer datasets, this program represents the first step toward transforming data accessibility across all medical domains, promising a future of boundless possibilities in health innovation. Today, cancer research data is collected across thousands of research labs, clinical care organizations, and numerous other sources; these entities all store their datasets differently, making it difficult for cancer researchers to leverage the full potential of massive amounts of data that exist. This initiative will pioneer prototype technologies capable of seamlessly searching cancer datasets to reveal opportunities for groundbreaking disease detection, prevention, and treatment, reduce the time needed to integrate new data sources from months to days, and improve data usability by the research community—so we can break down existing data siloes and learn from the experiences of more patients. This project will help bring America’s cancer research system into the 21^st century by transforming our health care system for cancer into a learning system, ensuring that knowledge gained through research is available to as many experts as possible, and delivering discovery and breakthroughs to patients sooner.
A new nationwide health innovation network to bring cancer clinical trials to underserved communities and drive research progress. ARPA-H is announcing that it’s new ARPANET-H, a nationwide health innovation network to tackle pressing health challenges, will be deployed to accelerate clinical trials for cancer and other diseases. This new network will reach all 50 states and the District of Columbia, and create a continuous feedback loop with patients, providers, researchers, and others that improves the goals, reach, and data sharing capabilities across ARPA-H programs to foster breakthrough collaborations and advance equitable health outcomes. ARPANET-H will comprise Customer Experience, Investor Catalyst, and Stakeholder and Operations hubs, along with a network of supporting spokes that connect local organizations, health providers, companies, and others to ARPA-H’s work. This new network will enable historically underserved populations to actively participate in clinical trials, improve equity in access to innovative cancer interventions and accelerate the agency’s work to drive breakthroughs in preventing, detecting, and treating cancer and other diseases.
New investments to reduce the impact of menthol and other flavored commercial tobacco products in communities that experience health disparities. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is announcing awardees of a new five-year, $15 million program to help increase adoption, implementation, and enforcement of policies prohibiting the sale of menthol and other flavored tobacco products and increase awareness of cessation services and coverage options among populations experiencing tobacco-related disparities in order to accelerate smoking cessation.
A new award recognizing community health centers for exceptional performance and high clinical quality in cancer screenings. The Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) is launching a new National Quality Leader (NQL) – Cancer Screening Badge. Federally qualified community health centers that meet two or more of the Healthy People 2030 breast, cervical, and colorectal cancer screening targets in their annual Uniform Data System performance report will receive the new NQL – Cancer Screening Badge. This badge, which will be awarded annually, was created in support of the Cancer Moonshot’s call to action on cancer screening, and highlights the critical role health centers play in providing historically medically underserved, high-need communities with access to lifesaving cancer screenings. In 2022, community health centers—which provide comprehensive, high-quality primary health care services tailored to their communities regardless of their patients’ ability to pay—served more than 30 million patients nationwide.
A new plan to decrease the impact of smoking on Americans’ health by expanding efforts to prevent smoking and to support everyone who wants to quit. While the United States has made important progress, smoking remains the biggest single driver of cancer deaths in the country. To ensure Americans who want to quit have the support they need, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) will finalize its Framework to Support and Accelerate Smoking Cessation this year. This Framework, which was developed with public input, will be a roadmap for enhancing collaboration and coordination across HHS—and with federal agencies and non-governmental organizations—to equitably accelerate smoking cessation progress, with a specific focus on communities disproportionately impacted by tobacco use.
New smoking cessation resources for underserved communities, including American Indian, Alaska Native, and Black communities, to reduce cancer health disparities. NCI’s SmokeFree.gov initiative is extending a partnership with the Indian Health Service to collaborate with experts from the University of Minnesota School of Public Health and the American Indian Cancer Foundation to launch SmokeFreeNative, a text messaging program to help American Indian and Alaska Native adolescents and adults quit smoking, while honoring the significance of traditional tobacco. Additionally, NCI is launching digital resources this fall on www.smokefree.gov to encourage and help people who smoke menthol cigarettes to quit. These resources were created to address barriers to quitting in communities that experience disparities caused by menthol cigarette use, with a particular focus on Black communities.
A new pilot program to increase veteran engagement in tobacco use treatment. The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), in collaboration with NCI, will conduct a clinical demonstration project to assess how to more effectively engage veterans in tobacco-use treatment programs. This clinical demonstration project will be implemented in the next year across a subset of Veterans Integrated Services Network clinical resource hubs and aims to address the high rates of tobacco use among veterans with mental health disorders and address gaps in the provision of treatment across facilities.
New resources and actions to reduce exposures to environmental carcinogens. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is launching epa.gov/cancer, with new information and prominently featured resources from EPA and other federal agencies about secondhand smoke, smoking cessation, and other cancer-related topics. New regulatory efforts, through rules and standards in progress, will regulate unreasonable cancer risks associated with carcinogenic chemicals under statutes including the Toxic Substances Control Act, the Safe Drinking Water Act, and the Clean Air Act. EPA will also continue to leverage its existing authorities under our nation’s bedrock health and environmental laws to accelerate the rate of progress to prevent cancer, including phase-outs of carcinogens, regulatory actions to protect children, workers and overburdened communities, and enforcement actions to ensure pollution is curbed. The Administration’s efforts to fight cancer linked with environmental exposure also advance President Biden’s commitment to environmental justice for all.
Leveraging research in space to fight cancer on earth and amplifying awareness on cancer screening. NASA’s Division for Biological and Physical Sciences, in partnership with the International Space Station (ISS) National Laboratory, will fund several projects to advance cancer research and technology to take place in-orbit on the ISS. Projects will aim to develop new cancer treatments, broaden research advancements, foster new collaborations, and accelerate biomanufacturing. Additionally, NASA is piloting early cancer screening education videos, partnering with VA to drive targeted education on lung cancer screening for veterans.
A new partnership to further understanding of the impact cancer has on America’s veterans. In alignment with the Sergeant First Class Heath Robinson Honoring our Promise to Address Comprehensive Toxics (PACT) Act of 2022, VA and NCI are announcing a new partnership to develop a two-way exchange process to collect more data on cancers in VA patients. This process will allow NCI’s Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) Program and the VA cancer registry to work together to gain crucial insights on veteran cancer diagnoses and treatments, while maintaining and protecting veteran privacy. Prior to this effort, data exchange was sporadic and incomplete, resulting in a lack of complete information on cancer in this important population. This collaboration will help us better understand—and ultimately treat—cancer among veterans and all Americans.
An expansion of virtual cancer care for America’s veterans. VA is announcing that it is adding more than 30 new sites to its VA National TeleOncology program, which provides resources and staff support through partnerships with VA medical centers nationwide. This program makes highly specialized care, like virtual tumor boards for multiple cancers, available to veterans, in particular, living in rural locations.

The Cancer Moonshot is also announcing the following new commitments from non-governmental organizations:

The American Cancer Society (ACS) will create a new oncology professional navigator curricula and certification program. In 2024, the ACS, with input from key partners, will lead the creation and implementation of a standardized national curricula for professional, non-clinician navigators to support people with cancer. Navigation by trained professionals in clinical settings is an integral component to improving cancer outcomes in the United States, helping to ensure every cancer patient has access to timely, quality, and culturally competent care, especially in historically marginalized communities. Additionally, ACS with will work with key partners to establish new programs such as navigator certification to support evaluation and adherence to best practices that align with improved outcomes.
The HealthWell Foundation will provide more than $300 million in 2024 to underinsured oncology patients to offset out-of-pocket medication costs. This will enable these patients to adhere to prescribed treatment regimens, and improve survival. In 2024, HealthWell will also start providing financial assistance to address disparities in oncology clinical trials and to support oncology caregivers—self-funding $500,000 for the program.
The African American Tobacco Control Leadership Council (AATCLC) is launching a coordinated effort to make Emotional Brain Training (EBT) services available for stress management and smoking cessation. In collaboration with the University of California, San Francisco Smoking Cessation Leadership Center, AATCLC will launch a coordinated effort within three months to promote the use of a free app for anyone new to EBT to gain easily scalable, rapid-acting tools to assist with smoking cessation. EBT has shown long-term effectiveness in treating stress overload, as well as mood and addictive behaviors including smoking.
CVS Health will be launching an expanded smoking cessation program in a dozen states. In addition to their currently offered smoking cessation and counseling, CVS Health will launch a comprehensive smoking cessation assessment, prescribing and counseling program at its retail pharmacies in 12 states, further increasing patient access to smoking cessation care. Combined with its expanding digital capabilities, CVS Health will be able to reach patients in their neighborhoods, helping address health disparities and breaking down barriers to care, building on their commitment to not sell tobacco products.
Komodo Health, a health data and technology startup, is announcing a new platform to measure cancer disease burden, map cancer outcomes, and illuminate disparities in cancer care. Over the next two years, this effort will deliver insights to help public health officials, government agencies, and patient advocacy organizations to directly support efforts to close the screening gap and decrease the impact of preventable cancers. Built on more than 330 million patient experiences, Komodo’s platform can be used to spotlight gaps in care, identify disparities in disease burden, and understand the impact of cancer on discrete patient populations. This research will enable public and private partners to direct resources to reduce the burdens of lung cancer.
The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society (LLS) will invest more than $17 million to bring clinical trials and treatment innovation to diverse and underrepresented communities across the country. For example, LLS is expanding its Influential Medicine Providing Access to Clinical Trials (IMPACT) Research Grant Program to include seven major, geographically diverse cancer centers and surrounding local cancer care delivery settings, to bring blood cancer treatment studies into more communities. As part of the investment, LLS’s Equity in Access Research Program will spend $2.5 million withing the next year to initiate multi-year studies addressing systemic, institutional, clinician, and patient-related barriers to trial participation. In the next five years, LLS aims to improve the speed of innovation and expand equitable access to treatments that have the potential to increase blood cancer patients’ quality of life and survival.
TOUCH, the Black Breast Cancer Alliance, will bolster Black women’s breast cancer clinical trial participation by 2025 committing to reaching 350,000 Black women and motivating 25,000 into trial portals. Additionally, TOUCH Care, the first program to provide a nurse navigator service to assist Black breast cancer patients in clinical trials by developing culturally-agile recruiting materials, training trial staff, and coaching patients, is being piloted with Genentech, a member of the Roche Group, and will add five trials annually. Less than three percent of breast cancer clinical trial participants are Black. 
xCures, a health-data technology platform, is launching a study to enhance the collection and organization of comprehensive data for Diffuse Midline Glioma (DMG) and Diffuse Intrinsic Pontine Glioma (DIPG). The study will streamline and standardize data gathering and identify patterns that can predict disease progression and treatment response, leading to more personalized treatment plans and targeted therapies. xCures pledges to maintain the data infrastructure for this study, and to make the data freely available to academic and government researchers. This will improve access and collaboration, with the ultimate goal of bringing innovation to more patients and providing a better understanding of these deadly cancers.
The DIPG DMG Research Funding Alliance is launching an online hub to support pediatric brain cancer patients from diagnosis through treatment and grief support. This hub, DIPG OneLink, will provide entry to two complementary data registry studies by the Children Brain Tumor Network and xCures, enrolling 250 DIPG/DMG patients in 2023 and expanding to over 700 patients by the end of 2024. The project will collect, store, and harmonize clinical records, imaging, and multiomics information that will be readily accessible to families and researchers.
The Focused Ultrasound Foundation (FUSF) is committing more than $3 million over the next three years for clinical trials exploring focused ultrasound as part of cancer treatment. In partnership with the Cancer Research Institute and the Parker Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy, FUSF has defined a roadmap to move towards clinical adoption of focused ultrasound and cancer immunotherapy combination treatments in glioblastoma, diffuse midline glioma, pancreatic cancer, liver cancer, breast cancer, and pediatric solid tumors. In addition, and in partnership with Arms Wide Open, FUSF will co-fund a preclinical research project exploring focused ultrasound for neuroblastoma.
The National Brain Tumor Society (NBTS) is launching a comprehensive effort to advance quality of life (QoL) research for people facing brain tumors. NBTS will create a new QoL Research Agenda, the first of its kind in the brain tumor space. This work will foster strong patient, clinician, researcher, and industry partnerships to support future QoL research, and NBTS will formally launch its QoL research funding agenda in early 2024.
The American Academy of Dermatology (AAD) will launch a national initiative to increase skin cancer awareness and early detection among firefighters. To protect first responders from the impacts of their unique exposure to carcinogenic chemicals, AAD will partner with fire stations and firefighter support organizations to educate them on the importance of early detection. To date, volunteer dermatologists have conducted screenings with over 2,700 local firefighters and volunteers in six states, including California, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, and Rhode Island, with the program expanding nationwide in 2024.

The National LGBT Cancer Network is making tailored tobacco cessation materials more readily available. LGBTQIA+ communities use commercial tobacco products at rates 49 percent higher than the general population, but there is a dearth of tailored cessation materials for these communities. Building on its community tailored website and a series of social media shareables, the National LGBT Cancer Network is creating at least six LGBTQIA+ tailored, print-based tobacco cessation materials, and will launch a print-on-demand store with all these materials available in the next year. The National LGBT Cancer Network will work with stakeholders like the North American Quitline Consortium, NCI-designated cancer centers, and community members to ensure these materials are compelling and motivational, and widely promote their availability.

Biden Administration, Economic Development, Foreign Policy, Foreign Relations, Infrastructure, Joe Biden, News & Photo Features, President Joe Biden

FACT SHEET: G20 Leaders Agree to Partnership for Global Infrastructure and Investment

September 12, 2023 krubin

At the 2023 G20 Summit in New Delhi, India, President Biden and Prime Minister Modi co-hosted a group of G20 leaders to accelerate investments to scale high-quality infrastructure projects and the development of economic corridors through the Partnership for Global Infrastructure and Investment (PGI).

The meeting of the leaders from the United States, European Union (EU), France, Germany, India, Italy, Japan, Mauritius, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, and the World Bank demonstrated the collective urgency to make meaningful progress in narrowing the infrastructure gap in low- and middle-income countries to enable inclusive and sustainable growth and promote economic activity and prosperity.

To further scale this work, the United States will continue to leverage public capital to mobilize private sector investments and collaborate with partners to develop agile and flexible relationships that directly respond to our partners’ needs, laying the groundwork to create more security, prosperity, and opportunities for generations to come.

Across the world, from Asia to Africa to the Western Hemisphere, PGI will continue to build and strengthen coalitions of partners — governments, the private sector, and multilateral development banks — to develop key economic corridors and drive high-quality investments.

President Biden announced a range of new projects to generate economic growth, incentivize new investments, and create quality jobs. They include a landmark India-Middle East-Europe Economic Corridor, as well as a partnership with the European Union to join the United States in supporting the expansion of the Lobito Corridor, and new PGI projects in a range of sectors and across regions.

Developing Key Economic Corridors
Launch of the Landmark India-Middle East-Europe Economic Corridor: Earlier this year, President Biden outlined his vision to develop economic corridors by strategically layering transformative investments across multiple sectors in countries to leverage broader effects of boosting economic development, securing supply chains, and bolstering regional connectivity. Today, the leaders of the United States, India, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, France, Germany, Italy and the European Union announced a new India-Middle East-Europe Economic Corridor . The transformative partnership has the potential to usher in a new era of connectivity from Europe to Asia with a railway, linked through ports, connected by the Middle East. This will create novel interconnections to facilitate global trade, expand reliable access to electricity, facilitate clean energy distribution, and strengthen telecommunications links. The founding partners intend to work with international partners and the private sector to:

Connect India to Europe—linked by a railway line and existing ports through the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, and Israel—that will generate economic growth while incentivizing new investments and the creation of quality jobs;
Connect two continents to commercial hubs and facilitate the development and export of clean energy;
Support existing trade and manufacturing synergies and strengthen food security and supply chains; and
Link energy grids and telecommunication lines through undersea cables to expand reliable access to electricity, enabling innovation of advanced clean energy technology and connect communities to secure and stable Internet.

Further development of the Lobito Corridor: Since President Biden announced investments to develop the Lobito Corridor in May 2023, the United States and its partners are advancing efforts to support a transparent and developed critical minerals sector that can both diversify the global electric vehicle supply chain and benefit local economies. The Corridor serves as an important economic link connecting both the continent and the Democratic Republic of Congo and Zambia through the Lobito port in Angola. Once transport infrastructure connecting all three countries is fully operational, the Corridor aims to enhance export possibilities, boost the regional circulation of goods, and promote the mobility of citizens. Specific new announcements include:

Today, the European Union officially teamed up with the United States to support the development of the Corridor, including supporting the African Governments in launching feasibility studies for the construction of a new greenfield rail line expansion from eastern Angola through northern Zambia.
Together, the United States and the European Union intend to explore cooperation in the areas of transport infrastructure investments; measures to facilitate trade, economic development and transit; and support to related sectors to fuel inclusive and sustainable economic growth and capital investment in Angola, Zambia and Democratic Republic of the Congo in the longer term. Specifically, this includes developing clean energy projects to increase the power supply to surrounding communities, supporting diversified investment in critical minerals and clean energy supply chains, extending digital access, growing agriculture value chains to enhance local food production for the region’s expanding population and to address global food insecurity, as well as augmenting local workforce training, support for small and medium enterprises and economic diversification.

Driving High Quality Transformative Investments Around the World
This G20 event builds on recent PGI investment announcements by President Biden and Vice President Harris, including at the ASEAN Summit and visit to Indonesia, the bilateral meeting with G20 host, India, and travel to Vietnam. In addition to economic corridors, PGI is driving high quality transformative investments around the world across PGI target sectors, including:

Greater Economic Cooperation with India:

Renewable Energy Generation: U.S. Development Finance Corporation (DFC)’s Board of Directors approved the provision of up to $425 million in financing to TP Solar Limited, a subsidiary of The Tata Power Company Limited, to build and operate a solar photovoltaic cell and module manufacturing facility in Tamil Nadu, India. Pending congressional notification, this investment will support India’s ambitious program to increase renewable energy generation while developing domestic industry to take advantage of the global clean energy transition. DFC’s support of TP Solar will build on previous support for India’s leadership in clean energy and contributes to a more diverse global supply chain for clean energy technology. 
Renewable Infrastructure Fund: India and the United States are also advancing the creation of investment platforms to lower the cost of capital and accelerate the deployment of greenfield renewable energy, battery storage and emerging green technology projects in India. Towards this end, India’s National Investment and Infrastructure Fund and the DFC exchanged letters of intent to each provide up to $500 million to anchor a renewable infrastructure investment fund.
Diversified Supply Chain for E-Mobility: The United States and India committed to contribute public finance and mobilize philanthropic finance to execute a payment security mechanism that will expand electric mobility in India by accelerating the procurement and deployment of 10,000 electric buses in India, providing extensive climate benefits and diversifying the global e-mobility supply chain.
Health Manufacturing in India and Making Insulin Accessible Globally: DFC approved an up to $50 million loan to GeneSys Biologics Private Limited (“GeneSys”) to support its construction of a manufacturing facility in Telengana, India, to scale its production of insulin biosimilars by 10X, with the expectation that the biosimilars will be reviewed for approval by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, as well as equivalent regulators in India and other countries. GeneSys will do drug substance manufacturing in Telangana and has partnered with Civica Rx to do fill-and-finish drug product manufacturing in Virginia. This effort will help to making insulin accessible and affordable in India, the United States, and around the world. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority has provided technical support throughout the development of the project.
5G Open RAN: The United States and India share a vision of creating secure and trusted telecommunications, resilient supply chains, and enabling global digital inclusion. Further collaboration includes establishing two joint Task Forces on advanced telecommunications, focused on Open RAN and research and development in 5G/6G technologies. Public-private cooperation between vendors and operators will be led by India’s Bharat 6G Alliance and the U.S. Next G Alliance. Both countries are partnering on Open RAN field trials and rollouts, including scaled deployments, with operators and vendors of both markets.

Modern Ports in El Salvador: The U.S. Trade and Development Agency (USTDA) intends to provide a technical assistance grant of $900,000 to El Salvador’s national ports commission to modernize the container terminal at the Port of Acajutla. USTDA’s technical assistance aims to promote operational efficiency, reliability, and safety at El Salvador’s busiest seaport and to provide recommendations for deploying green port and digital technologies to reduce the port’s energy consumption, and decrease air pollution from maritime vessels.

Supply Chains in Mozambique:  DFC’s Board of Directors approved the provision of up to $150 million in financing to Twigg Exploration and Mining to fund investments in the company’s graphite mining and processing operation in Balama, Mozambique. Pending congressional notification, this investment will increase production and diversify the global supply chain for graphite which is a critical mineral for a range of clean energy and advanced technology products. DFC’s support will also lead to job creation and investment in local infrastructure while ensuring high environmental and social standards that are essential for responsible mining.

Transportation Systems in the Philippines: USTDA intends to provide grant funding towards a feasibility study to support the Philippines’ Department of Transportation in assessing the viability of developing an expanded vessel traffic management system in the Philippines. As a nation comprised of over 7,000 islands, over 800 commercial ports, and growing vessel traffic activity, the Philippines aims to expand its vessel traffic management system capabilities to cover major ports and navigational paths. The feasibility study will assess the viability of potential implementation at 8 to 10 locations in the Philippines and develop the technical architecture and infrastructure requirements for each location.

Bridge the Gender Digital Divide: During her March 2023 trip to Africa, Vice President Kamala Harris announced the launch of the Women in the Digital Economy Fund (Wi-DEF) by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), in partnership with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation with a combined $60 million commitment. Since then, that commitment has leveraged further investment and led to the launch of the Women in the Digital Economy Initiative. This effort will advance digital access and affordability; develop relevant products and tools; provide digital literacy and skills training; promote online safety and security; and invest in sex-disaggregated data and research.

Since the launch of WiDEF, partners have pledged an additional $11.6 million – $10 million from Microsoft and $1.6 million from the Government of the Republic of Korea.
Building off of the success of this Fund, USAID is launching the Women in the Digital Economy Initiative which convenes new partners who have pledged over $515 million collectively to help close the gender digital divide. Australia, Canada, Finland, Germany, Japan, Sweden, and the United Kingdom have all pledged their support. In addition, private sector and philanthropic organizations have made contributions, including Amazon Web Services, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, CARE, Citi, G20 EMPOWER India Chapter, the Global Digital Inclusion Partnership, GSMA, the Mastercard Center for Inclusive Growth, Microsoft Corporation, myAgro, Reliance Foundation, Viasat, Visa Foundation, and Visa Inc.

Biden Administration, Economic Development, Foreign Policy, Foreign Relations, Joe Biden, News & Photo Features, President Joe Biden

FACT SHEET: Biden Delivers on an Ambitious Agenda for the G20

September 12, 2023 krubin

When President Biden took office, he committed to restore the United States’ leadership role in the world, rebuild our relationships abroad, and champion an economic agenda at home and abroad to deliver sustainable and inclusive growth for American families—and families everywhere. This week, at the G20 Summit in New Delhi, President Biden continued to deliver on those commitments.

Leading by example and working with partners around the world, the United States and the G20 delivered for developing countries, for our shared planet, and for an inclusive and responsible digital transformation. At a moment when the global economy is suffering from the overlapping shocks of the climate crisis, fragility, and conflict—including the immense suffering unleashed by Russia’s war in Ukraine—this year’s Summit proved that the G20 can still drive solutions to our most pressing issues.

The United States is committed to the G20 and to building on the progress made in India’s G20 Presidency, starting with Brazil’s Presidency in 2024 and South Africa’s Presidency in 2025. In a sign of the President’s steadfast commitment to the G20 as the premier forum for international economic cooperation, the United States will host the G20 in 2026. As President Biden called for last year at the U.S.-Africa Leaders’ Summit, the United States is also pleased to have supported and now welcome the African Union as a permanent member of the G20, a reflection of both the G20’s vitality and the important role of Africa in the global economy.

Delivering for Developing Countries

At the midpoint of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, compounding crises have resulted in a stalling or reversal of development gains. In New Delhi, President Biden and other G20 leaders committed to implement the G20 2023 Action Plan to Accelerate the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The United States remains committed to the full implementation of the 2030 Agenda, both at home and around the world.

At home, President Biden is rebuilding the American economy from the bottom up and middle out and making historic investments in our infrastructure, our people, and our climate. These policies have enabled the United States to have the strongest recovery of any major economy. As the world’s largest bilateral donor of official development assistance, the United States is working to help develop countries support their development priorities in areas like inclusive growth, infrastructure, education, health and health security, and resilient and sustainable food systems.

Recognizing that public funding alone is not enough, President Biden is championing an ambitious agenda to mobilize significant additional financing for development from all sources—public and private, domestic and international. At the G20, he delivered key elements of that agenda.

Delivering a better, bigger, more effective World Bank. The United States is championing a major effort to fundamentally reshape the multilateral development banks to meet 21^st century challenges. Over the last year, the World Bank, with the backing of the G20, has made meaningful progress in unlocking new financing capacity and advancing operational reforms. Under Ajay Banga’s leadership, the World Bank is set to play a transformative role in addressing global challenges. Last month, President Biden asked Congress for funds to unlock more than $25 billion in World Bank Group concessional financing. In New Delhi, he rallied G20 partners to agree to collectively mobilize more headroom and concessional finance to boost the World Bank’s capacity to support low- and middle-income countries. This initiative will make the Bank a better and bigger institution able to provide resources at the scale and speed needed to tackle global challenges and address the urgent needs of the poorest countries.
Supporting countries that fall into economic crisis. President Biden called on the G20 as leaders in the global economy to provide meaningful debt relief so that low- and middle-income countries can regain their footing as they seek to recover from compounding economic shocks in the last few years, and invest in critical development needs. Leaders in New Delhi committed to redouble efforts to resolve ongoing debt distress cases—like Ghana and Sri Lanka. President Biden made it clear that the United States expects meaningful progress by the World Bank and IMF Annual Meetings in October.
Make financing more sustainable. President Biden pressed leaders to think beyond our current frameworks to provide new solutions to help translate unsustainable debt into transformative investments. The U.S. Development Finance Corporation has provided such financing to facilitate more than $1 billion in debt for nature swaps in the Western Hemisphere and Africa—unlocking funds for countries to tackle the climate and biodiversity crises and to invest in other critical development needs. At the G20, President Biden also pressed all creditors—including the private sector and multilateral development banks—to offer climate resilient debt clauses in their lending. The U.S. Export Import Bank is preparing to do so in select bilateral lending, in line with its governance framework.
Developing transformative economic corridors and scaling high-quality investments through the Partnership for Global Infrastructure and Investment (PGI). At an event co-hosted by President Biden and Prime Minister Modi, President Biden and partners announced a landmark India-Middle East-Europe Economic Corridor that will usher a new era of connectivity from Europe to Asia, facilitating global trade, as well as cooperation on energy and digital connectivity. President Biden also announced a new partnership with the European Union to expand investments in the Lobito Corridor. The President called on partners to deploy public capital to strategically leverage the expertise and financing of the private sector to help secure and diversify 21st century energy supply chains, expand digital connectivity, increase electricity access, bolster food security, and strengthen health systems.

Working for a Just Peace in Ukraine

President Biden is engaging with countries around the world in pressing for a just peace in Ukraine based on sovereignty and territorial integrity. One and a half years after Russia’s illegal and unjustified aggression against Ukraine, G20 leaders joined President Biden in welcoming efforts to secure “a just peace that upholds all the Purposes and Principles of the UN Charter.” G20 leaders emphasized that countries must refrain from the threat or use of force to seek territorial acquisition against any state’s territorial integrity and sovereignty. G20 leaders also united in highlighting the human suffering and severe economic impacts of the war against Ukraine. The statement highlighted that major economies from around the world – including Brazil, India, South Africa – are united in the need for Russia to uphold international law including territorial integrity and sovereignty.

Delivering on Food Security

Since the beginning of his Administration, President Biden has made global food security a priority and galvanized collective action to respond to the global food crisis. The United States has committed more than $15.2 billion in critical humanitarian assistance and medium- to long-term food security investments around the world. These investments have helped countries address acute needs and avert famine, as well as diversify their supply chains. At the G20, President Biden championed an agenda focused on mitigating the acute food crises the world is facing today, as well as working together with G20 countries to mitigate against future shocks.

Addressing the food security crisis exacerbated by Russia’s unlawful war in Ukraine. Russia has intensified its attack on global food security with its July decision to withdraw from the Black Sea Grain Initiative (BSGI)—which was responsible for nearly 33 million tons of food exports, about two-thirds of which went directly to middle- and lower-income countries—and its attacks on Ukraine’s port infrastructure to prevent Ukrainian grain shipments from getting to those who need it most. The United States continues to lead the charge to mitigate the impact of Russia’s invasion on world food security and to provide food assistance to the most vulnerable populations in the world. In addition to the more than $15.2 billion that the United States has provided since 2021 to address famine and food insecurity, the Biden-Harris Administration and G7 leaders have rallied the world to contribute an additional over $4.5 billion for acute and medium to long term food security assistance, half of which came from the United States. At the G20, President Biden was unequivocal in calling on Russia to stop weaponizing food, which is causing immense human suffering around the world. G20 leaders united to call for the full, timely and effective implementation of the BSGI.
Building more resilient food systems to mitigate against future food shocks. Collective G20 action is necessary to help address global food, climate, and supply chain shocks, prevent hunger and build more sustainable, inclusive, and resilient agriculture and food systems. In New Delhi, President Biden joined G20 leaders in committing to keep food supply chains and trade open, including for agricultural inputs like fertilizer and seeds; adopt and expand climate-smart agricultural practices; invest in critical agricultural infrastructure; promote innovative agricultural research and innovation; and use digital technology to help lower production and transportation costs and diversify access to new global food markets.

Delivering on Global Health Challenges

The United States is the world’s largest bilateral donor for global health and is committed to working alongside the G20 to build a safer, more equitable future. This includes working together to invest in health equity through vaccine distribution, expanding and improving access to health systems, and facilitating the availability of quality services to historically marginalized groups. It also includes strengthening health systems and institutions; combatting infectious diseases including HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria; advancing sexual and reproductive health and rights, and accelerating efforts towards universal health coverage.

Improving pandemic preparedness and response. Last year, President Biden galvanized the world to help launch a new Pandemic Fund to fill critical gaps in pandemic preparedness and global health security, committing $450 million and unlocking an additional $1 billion in initial contributions from nearly two dozen countries and philanthropies. This year, the Pandemic Fund is a reality, and recently concluded its first call for proposals, approving $338 million in grants to 37 countries across 6 regions to strengthen disease surveillance and early warning systems and laboratories. In New Delhi, President Biden made it clear that the G20 cannot lose its focus on improving pandemic preparedness, prevention, and response. To this end, he has committed an additional $250 million in planned funds to the Pandemic Fund.
Building stronger health systems. As we emerge from the acute phase of the COVID-19 pandemic, many countries’ health systems are struggling to restore access to basic services, like routine childhood immunization and maternal health care. To help the world get back on track, President Biden launched the Global Health Worker Initiative in 2022, recognizing that a health workforce that is supported, equipped, and protected is necessary to reclaim lost ground from the pandemic and prepare for future health threats. President Biden urged G20 leaders to commit to reverse the first global decline in life expectancy in more than seven decades. G20 leaders committed to work together to strengthen primary health care and restore essential health services to better than pre-pandemic levels by the end of 2025.
Tackling the overdose crisis: G20 leaders came together for the first time to elevate counternarcotics challenges, and synthetic drugs in particular, as a G20 priority. Leaders recognized the shared public health threats posed by synthetic drugs and committed to enhanced information sharing and capacity building to address these challenges, advancing the critical actions the Biden-Harris Administration is taking to address the overdose crisis at home.

Delivering for Our Planet

Building a clean energy economy here at home is one of President Biden’s top priorities. But climate change is an issue that requires global action, and the G20 is collectively responsible for about 80 percent of global emissions. In New Delhi, President Biden secured commitments to ensure the G20 continues to set its collective ambition high to address the climate crisis.

Tripling global renewable energy capacity by 2030. At home, President Biden signed into law the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) to increase investments in clean energy technologies. Outside estimates report that the IRA has already created more than 170,000 jobs and will create 1.5 million over the next decade. And the IRA will expand clean energy supply, speed global adoption, and drive down technology costs by as much as 25 percent globally. I In New Delhi, President Biden and G20 leaders committed to pursue efforts to triple global renewable energy capacity by 2030, encouraging more countries to follow the IRA playbook of investing in clean energy manufacturing and deployment, creating jobs, and fighting climate change.
Recognizing the need to peak global emissions by 2025. President Biden successfully urged the G20 to join together in acknowledging, for the first time, the need to peak global emissions by no later than 2025, and in recognizing the to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 43 percent by 2030, and 60 percent by 2035, relative to 2019 levels. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has said that these actions are critical to achieving global net zero greenhouse gas emissions/carbon neutrality by or around mid-century and limiting warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius.
Encouraging countries to incorporate economy-wide targets covering all greenhouse gases into their nationally determined contributions. G20 nations have the ability to reduce their emissions in a way that meaningfully supports the full and effective implementation of the Paris Agreement and its temperature goals. With President Biden’s leadership, G20 countries for the first time urged all countries to include economy-wide targets covering all greenhouse gases in upcoming cycles for Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs).
Launching the Global Biofuels Alliance. Sustainable biofuels are critical to facilitating net zero by 2050. Advanced biofuels can be sustainably produced from abundant organic material—and supplied by reliable trading partners like the United States. In New Delhi, the G20 Presidency launched the Global Biofuels Alliance with the United States as a founding member along with India, Brazil, Italy, Canada, Argentina, and South Africa. This new Alliance will bring countries together to expand and create new markets for sustainable biofuels.

Delivering an Inclusive and Responsible Digital Transformation

The digital transformations underway offer the potential to improve the lives of our citizens if they are harnessed responsibly and in a way that drives broadly shared growth. In order to realize the benefits of these technologies, President Biden believes it is necessary to address the barriers to inclusive access and to shape regulatory and governance approaches to maximize their benefits while mitigating their risks. This is the agenda that he championed in New Delhi.

Harnessing AI responsibly, for good and for all. President Biden championed an approach to AI that includes a commitment to responsible AI development, deployment, and use, to leverage AI to solve pressing challenges while protecting people’s rights and safety.
Cutting the digital gender divide in half by 2030. Globally, approximately 260 million more men than women were using the internet in 2022—a divide that undermines women’s full participation in the 21^st century economy. President Biden successfully secured a commitment from G20 leaders to halve the digital gender gap by 2030. To help meet this commitment, the United States announced a Women in the Digital Economy Initiative, convening partners from government, the private sector, and civil society to accelerate efforts to close the gender digital divide.

Improving access to digital services to boost sustainable and inclusive growth. President Biden joined other G20 leaders in taking steps towards unlocking the benefits of digital public infrastructure (DPI), stressing the importance of prioritizing secure, inclusive, and accountable approaches to DPI, built and leveraged by both the public and private sectors, that respect human rights and protect personal data, privacy, and intellectual property rights.

Civil Rights, Climate Action, Human Rights, Immigration-Migration-Refugees, Inequality, News & Photo Features

Clinton Global Initiative, Taking Place Sept. 18-19 in NYC, Focuses on Facilitating Actions that Make Tangible Difference in Lives Around the World

September 6, 2023 krubin

At the 2022 Clinton Global Initiative, themed “Taking Action Together,” President Bill Clinton, Secretary Hillary Clinton, Clinton Foundation Vice Chair Chelsea Clinton present the Clinton Global Citizen Award to long-time fighter for human, civil, workers and immigrant rights, Dolores Huerta. This year’s meeting, taking place Sept. 18-19 in NYC, will focus on what it takes to keep going—to maintain and advance progress, in spite of the difficulties that arise. © Karen Rubin/news-photos-features.com

The Clinton Global Initiative taking place in New York City September 18-19, is aimed at bringing together organizations across government, business, and civil society; established and emerging leaders; activists and advocates; and community workers and doers who are on the front lines of our most pressing global challenges, and facilitate collaborations and actions that have real impact on people’s lives around the world.

Launched by President Clinton in 2005, CGI has built a community of doers who are taking action to make a tangible difference in people’s lives around the world.

CGI works with partners to develop Commitments to Action, which are new, specific, and measurable solutions. Since 2005, more than 3,900 Commitments to Action have been launched through CGI. At the 2022 meeting, members of the CGI community launched more than 140 Commitments to Action that are now improving access to health care, advancing sustainability, creating employment opportunities, supporting refugee resettlement, and more.

President Clinton, Secretary Clinton, and Chelsea Clinton, in a letter to the CGI community, said this year’s meeting would focus on how to “keep going” – in spite of the difficulties that arise – to build a stronger future for all.

“We all have the power to make a difference, and therefore the responsibility at least to try. This fundamental belief is what led us to call the CGI community back together in 2022. The response was remarkable: more than 2,000 leaders attended our September meeting in New York City, where more than 650 partnering organizations came together to launch more than 140 Commitments to Action – new, specific, measurable projects. All told, the CGI community has now made more than 3,900 Commitments.

“Throughout 2023, we’ve built on that momentum, convening leaders, innovators and dreamers across geographies and areas of focus to forge new partnerships and drive further action, all to achieve more durable, meaningful and yes, measurable impact. In the spring alone, we hosted events on five continents to get input from the CGI network and bring more partners into the fold—and we heard from you over and over again how important it is to reconvene CGI again this September.

“That’s why, on September 18-19, we will gather again in New York City. This year’s meeting will focus on what it takes to keep going—to maintain and advance progress, in spite of the difficulties that arise, and increase our capacity to cross the divides and make common cause with one another wherever possible to build a stronger future for all.

“At CGI’s annual meeting, we’ll hear from those who are tackling some of today’s most pressing issues, including climate change, health inequities, food insecurity, economic inequality, threats to democracy around the world, and record-breaking refugee displacement. We will examine ways to channel energy and investment to scale solutions that are already improving people’s lives, and explore how tools like AI can be responsibly harnessed for good. As always, the focus will be on what we can do, not what we can’t—and will highlight how even seemingly small actions, when taken together, can turn the tide on even our most stubborn challenges.”

At CGI 2023, President Clinton, Secretary Clinton, and Chelsea Clinton will be joined by leaders from across business, government, philanthropy, and civil society, including Noubar Afeyan, Founder and CEO, Flagship Pioneering; Co-Founder and Chairman, Moderna; Ajay Banga, World Bank President; Jason Buechel, CEO, Whole Foods; Miguel Cardona, U.S. Secretary of Education; Brian Chesky, Co-Founder and CEO, Airbnb; Daniels, Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert, Directors/Writers/Producers; Philip E. Davis, Prime Minister, The Bahamas; Patrick Dempsey, Actor, Producer, Founder and Board Member of The Dempsey Center; Michael J. Fox, Founder, The Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research; Maura Healey, Governor, Massachusetts; Kathy Hochul, Governor, New York; Padma Lakshmi, Host/Executive Producer of Hulu’s Taste the Nation, Writer, and UNDP Goodwill Ambassador; Tjada D’Oyen McKenna, CEO, MercyCorps; David Miliband, President and CEO, International Rescue Committee; La June Montgomery Tabron, President and CEO, W.K. Kellogg Foundation; Wes Moore, Governor, Maryland; Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Director-General, World Trade Organization; Noel Quinn, CEO, HSBC; J.B. Pritzker, Governor, Illinois; Liev Schreiber, Co-Founder, Blue Check Ukraine; Simon Stiell, Executive Secretary, United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change; Darren Walker, President, Ford Foundation; will.i.am, President & Founder, i.am Angel Foundation.

Additional featured participants include Rolando Gonzalez-Bunster, Founder, President, and CEO, InterEnergy; Nicole Hockley, CEO, Sandy Hook Promise; Eugenia Kargbo, Arsht-Rock Chief Heat Officer, Freetown, Sierra Leone; Francine Katsoudas, Executive Vice President and Chief People, Policy & Purpose Officer of Cisco; Sophia Kianni, Founder and Executive Director, Climate Cardinals; Nicholas Kristof, Pulitzer Prize-Winning Journalist and Author; Peter Laugharn, President and CEO, Conrad N. Hilton Foundation; Sage Lenier, Founder & Executive Director, Sustainable & Just Future; Louise Emmanuelle Mabulo, Founder, The Cacao Project; Janet Murguía, President, UnidosUS; Vaishali Nigam-Sinha, Co-Founder & Chairperson, Sustainability, ReNew Energy Global PLC; ‘Aholotu Palu, Chief Executive of the Pacific Catastrophe Risk Insurance Company; Amy Pope, Incoming Director General of the International Organization for Migration (IOM); Keller Rinaudo Cliffton, Founder and CEO, Zipline; Lynn Forester de Rothschild, Founder & Chair, Council for Inclusive Capitalism and CEO, E.L. Rothschild; Paul Stormoen, CEO, OX2; Pete Upton, CEO and Chairperson, Native CDFI Network; Asha Varghese, President, Caterpillar Foundation; Gary White, Co-Founder, Water.org; Debra Whitman, Executive Vice President and Chief Public Policy Officer, AARP; Darrin Williams, CEO, Southern Bancorp.

Previously announced featured participants include José Andrés, Founder and Chief Feeding Officer, World Central Kitchen; Orlando Bloom, UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador; Albert Bourla, CEO, Pfizer; Jesper Brodin, Chairman and CEO, INGKA Holding; Matt Damon, Co-Founder, Water.org; Tony Elumelu, Founder and Chair, The Tony Elumelu Foundation; Ilan Goldfajn, President, Inter-American Development Bank; Filippo Grandi, United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees; Ashley Judd, Author and Goodwill Ambassador, UNFPA; Karlie Kloss, Entrepreneur and Founder of Kode With Klossy; Lorenzo P. Lewis, Founder, the Confess Project; Tsitsi Masiyiwa, Co-Founder and Chair of Higherlife Foundation and Delta Philanthropies; Cindy H. McCain, Executive Director of the World Food Programme; Ai-jen Poo, President, National Domestic Workers Alliance; Catherine Russell, Executive Director, UNICEF; Ai Weiwei, Artist; and more.

The schedule for CGI 2023, including plenary and spotlight sessions, can be found at www.clintonglobal.org/2023.

Sponsors for the CGI 2023 meeting span a broad range of supporters from business, philanthropy, and civil society. CGI is grateful for their support in building a convening that will help drive action across the major global challenges of our time. They include InterEnergy/Evergo, Domuschiev Impact, AFT, American Beverage, APCO Worldwide, Aurora Humanitarian Initiative, Beatrice Snyder Foundation, Bob and Jane Harrison, Caterpillar Foundation, Christie’s, Cisco, Dream, The EKTA Foundation, The Elevate Prize Foundation, Elizabeth Hirsh Naftali, Flagship Pioneering, Fondation Botnar, Global Education Foundation, Global Sae-A, JetBlue, Joyce Aboussie, The Marc Haas Foundation, The Masimo Foundation, Mastercard Center for Inclusive Growth, MEBO International, Pernod Ricard USA, Pfizer Inc., SAP, Tarsadia Foundation, Teena Hostovich, The Nima Taghavi Foundation, and W.K. Kellogg Foundation. In addition, Postcode Lottery Group is serving as a partner for the CGI 2023 Meeting. For the second consecutive year, decision intelligence company Morning Consult is serving as the official data partner.

The CGI 2023 Meeting will also include the return of two programs launched in 2022 – CGI Greenhouse that directly connects entrepreneurs with partnership and scaling opportunities; and the CGI Story Studio that inspires action through stories of frontline leaders and lived experiences.

You can livestream the event by registering to participate.

For schedules and information, visit www.clintonglobal.org/2023. Follow CGI on Facebook, Instagram, Threads, LinkedIn, and X, for meeting news and highlights.

Biden Administration, Gun Violence Prevention, News & Photo Features

FACT SHEET: Biden-Harris Administration Takes Another Life-Saving Step to Keep Guns Out of Dangerous Hands

September 1, 2023 krubin

March for Our Lives, Washington DC, 2018. Amid yet another senseless shooting on college campus and racist-motivated murders at a Jacksonville, Florida grocery store, concern as students start another school year, and as the number of mass shootings continue to hit records, with 120 people dying each day from gun violence, President Biden is taking life-saving action to reduce the number of guns sold without background checks and keep guns out of the hands of criminals. © Karen Rubin/news-photos-features.com

Amid yet another senseless shooting on college campus and racist-motivated murders at a Jacksonville, Florida grocery store, concern as students start another school year, and as the number of mass shootings continue to hit new records, with 120 people dying each day from gun violence, President Biden is taking life-saving action to reduce the number of guns sold without background checks and keep guns out of the hands of criminals. – Karen Rubin/news-photos-features.com

In March, President Biden signed an Executive Order directing the Attorney General to move as close to universal background checks as possible within existing law. Today, as a result of the Executive Order and the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act, the Department of Justice is taking life-saving action to reduce the number of guns sold without background checks and keep guns out of the hands of criminals.

Why the Biden-Harris Administration is Taking Action

Since 1994, federal law has required federally licensed firearms dealers to run background checks prior to selling or transferring a weapon. These background checks have helped keep guns out of the hands of more than three million felons, convicted domestic abusers, and other dangerous individuals. However, despite the law, individuals who should be licensed dealers have refused to obtain a license, skirting the background check requirement.

Last year, Congress passed and President Biden signed into law bipartisan legislation to help address this dangerous problem by modifying the definition of who has to become a federally licensed firearms dealer. Members of Congress—both Democrats and Republicans—made clear that they intended for the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act to better protect the American people from gun violence by clarifying when someone is supposed to become a licensed firearms dealer.

New Action to Keep Guns Out of Dangerous Hands

Today, the Justice Department has announced a proposed rule to specify what exactly the new definition in the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act means on the ground. If finalized, this proposed rule would mean the following for people who are not selling guns in order to make money: If you have a gun you no longer need, and you want to sell it to your family member, you do not need a license to sell it. If you buy and sell curios or relics or “collectible” personal firearms as a hobby, again, you do not need a license. But, if you are offering a firearm for sale to make money, and telling a customer that you can purchase and sell him additional firearms, you would presumptively need a license—and need to run background checks. The same is true if you repetitively offer for resale firearms within 30 days of when you purchased them. The proposed rule includes a number of other situations where, in civil and administrative proceedings and absent reliable evidence to the contrary, it will be presumed that you need a license.

Specifically, the proposed rule, if finalized, would clarify that an individual would be presumed to be “engaged in the business” of dealing in firearms—and therefore be required to become a licensed firearms dealer and run background checks—if they meet certain conditions. For example, under the proposed rule, a person would be presumed to be required to become a licensed dealer and run background checks if they meet one or more of the following criteria:

Offer for sale any number of firearms and also represents to potential buyers that they are willing and able to purchase and sell them additional firearms;
- Repetitively offer for sale firearms within 30 days after they were purchased;
- Repetitively offer for sale firearms that are like new in their original packaging;
- Repetitively offer for sale multiple firearms of the same make and model; or
- As a formerly federally-licensed firearms dealer, sell firearms that were in the business inventory and not transferred to a personal collection at least a year before the sale, addressing the so-called “fire sale loophole.”

The proposed rule would also clarify that, for civil or administrative actions, an individual would be presumed to have the intent to “predominantly earn a profit”—one of the elements of engaging in the business of dealing firearms—if the person engages in activities such as:

Creating a website or making business cards to advertise or market a firearms business;
- Maintaining records to document and track profits and losses from firearms purchases or sales; or
Purchasing business insurance or renting space at a gun show.

The proposed rule would make clear that there is no “gun show loophole” or “internet loophole” in federal law. Dealers who engage in the business of selling guns are required to obtain a license and run background checks no matter where they engage in the business of buying and selling firearms. That include at gun shows and over the Internet.

The proposed rule is now open for public comment. The Department of Justice will consider the comments it receives in deciding on a final rule.

Continuing to Call on Congress to Act

This rule is a significant step toward reducing the percentage of firearms sold for profit without background checks. It builds on previous Biden-Harris Administration actions to save lives and combat the epidemic of gun violence.

However, to fully address this problem, Congress must act. The President continues to call on Congress to enact universal background checks legislation, as well as other commonsense legislation to ban assault weapons and high-capacity magazines, require safe storage of guns, and end immunity from liability for gun manufacturers. These are life-saving measures that the vast majority of Americans and gun owners support to protect our Country from the threat of gun violence.

“It is a false choice to suggest that we have to choose between either supporting the Second Amendment or passing reasonable gun safety laws – we can do both. All people in every community across our Nation have a right to be safe. This proposed regulation will help realize that goal and save lives,” Vice President Kamala Harris stated.

“But there is more to do. Congress must pass legislation to ban assault weapons and high-capacity magazines, require safe gun storage, end immunity from liability for gun manufacturers, and require background checks on all gun sales—even those by gun dealers who are not registered. The President and I will not stop fighting to end this Nation’s epidemic of gun violence.”

Biden Administration, Health Care, News & Photo Features

Biden Administration Takes Historic Step to Lower Cost of Prescription Drugs for Medicare, Medicaid

August 29, 2023 krubin

In the immortal words of President Biden as VP when President Obama signed the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) into law, this is a big f—kg deal.

For the first time, thanks to President Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act – the historic law lowering health care costs – Medicare is able to negotiate the prices of prescription drugs.

Today, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), through the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), announced the first 10 drugs covered under Medicare Part D selected for negotiation. The negotiations with participating drug companies will occur in 2023 and 2024, and any negotiated prices will become effective beginning in 2026. Medicare enrollees taking the 10 drugs covered under Part D selected for negotiation paid a total of $3.4 billion in out-of-pocket costs in 2022 for these drugs.

“For far too long, pharmaceutical companies have made record profits while American families were saddled with record prices and unable to afford life-saving prescription drugs. But thanks to the landmark Inflation Reduction Act, we are closer to reaching President Biden’s goal of increasing availability and lowering prescription drug costs for all Americans,” said HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra. “Although drug companies are attempting to block Medicare from being able to negotiate for better drug prices, we will not be deterred. The Biden-Harris Administration will continue working to ensure that Americans with Medicare have access to innovative, life-saving treatments at lower costs.”

The Biden-Harris Administration has made lowering prescription drug costs and improving access to innovative therapies a key priority. Alongside other provisions in the new law that increase the affordability of health care and prescription drugs, allowing Medicare to negotiate prescription drug prices will strengthen the program’s ability to serve people with Medicare now and for generations to come. The negotiation process will consider the selected drug’s clinical benefit, the extent to which it fulfills an unmet medical need, and its impact on people who rely on Medicare, among other considerations, such as costs associated with research and development as well as production and distribution for selected drugs. As a result of negotiations, people with Medicare will have access to innovative, life-saving treatments at lower costs to Medicare.

The selected drug list for the first round of negotiation is:

Eliquis
- Jardiance
- Xarelto
- Januvia
- Farxiga
- Entresto
- Enbrel
- Imbruvica
- Stelara
- Fiasp; Fiasp FlexTouch; Fiasp PenFill; NovoLog; NovoLog FlexPen; NovoLog PenFill

These selected drugs accounted for $50.5 billion in total Part D gross covered prescription drug costs, or about 20%, of total Part D gross covered prescription drug costs between June 1, 2022 and May 31, 2023, which is the time period used to determine which drugs were eligible for negotiation. CMS will publish any agreed-upon negotiated prices for the selected drugs by September 1, 2024; those prices will come into effect starting January 1, 2026. In future years, CMS will select for negotiation up to 15 more drugs covered under Part D for 2027, up to 15 more drugs for 2028 (including drugs covered under Part B and Part D), and up to 20 more drugs for each year after that, as outlined in the Inflation Reduction Act.

“We’ve reached this milestone because of the Inflation Reduction Act– one of the most significant laws ever enacted, and one that passed with the leadership of Democrats in Congress,” President Biden stated. “We took on Big Pharma and special interests, overcoming opposition from every Republican in Congress, and the American people won.”

When implemented, prices on negotiated drugs will decrease for up to 9 million seniors. These seniors currently pay up to $6,497 in out-of-pocket costs per year for these prescriptions. In addition, the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office reports that this will save taxpayers $160 billion by reducing how much Medicare pays for drugs through negotiation and inflation rebates.

“This plan is a key part of Bidenomics, my economic vision for growing the economy from the middle out and the bottom up – not the top down. And it’s working.,” Biden stated. “That’s why Big Pharma has already filed eight lawsuits against my Administration, and spent nearly $400 million last year to try to stop our progress. Let me be clear: I am not backing down. There is no reason why Americans should be forced to pay more than any developed nation for life-saving prescriptions just to pad Big Pharma’s pockets. For many Americans, the cost of one drug is the difference between life and death, dignity and dependence, hope and fear. That is why we will continue the fight to lower healthcare costs – and we will not stop until we finish the job.”

HHS Announces First Set of Drugs Selected for Medicare Price Negotiation

For the first time ever, HHS announced ten drugs selected for Medicare drug price negotiation:

Drug Name	Commonly Treated Conditions	Total Part D Gross Covered Prescription Drug Costs from June 2022-May 2023	Number of Medicare Part D Enrollees Who Used the Drug from June 2022-May 2023	Average Part D Covered Prescription Drug Costs Per Enrollee
Eliquis	Prevention and treatment of blood clots	$16,482,621,000	3,706,000	$4,448
Jardiance	Diabetes; Heart failure	$7,057,707,000	1,573,000	$4,487
Xarelto	Prevention and treatment of blood clots; Reduction of risk for patients with coronary or peripheral artery disease	$6,031,393,000	1,337,000	$4,511
Januvia	Diabetes	$4,087,081,000	869,000	$4,703
Farxiga	Diabetes; Heart failure; Chronic kidney disease	$3,268,329,000	799,000	$4,091
Entresto	Heart failure	$2,884,877,000	587,000	$4,915
Enbrel	Rheumatoid arthritis; Psoriasis; Psoriatic arthritis	$2,791,105,000	48,000	$58,148
Imbruvica	Blood cancers	$2,663,560,000	20,000	$133,178
Stelara	Psoriasis; Psoriatic arthritis; Crohn’s disease; Ulcerative colitis	$2,638,929,000	22,000	$119,951
Fiasp; Fiasp FlexTouch; Fiasp PenFill; NovoLog; NovoLog FlexPen; NovoLog PenFill	Diabetes	$2,576,586,000	777,000	$3,316

[Source: CMS, https://www.cms.gov/files/document/fact-sheet-medicare-selected-drug-negotiation-list-ipay-2026.pdf]

These ten drugs are among those with highest total spending in Medicare Part D – $50 billion in total part D gross covered drug cost s- or 20% of total part D gross covered drug costs june 1, 2022, may 31, 2023. More than 8 million Part D enrollees depend on these vital treatments to treat life-threatening conditions including diabetes, heart failure, and cancer, but many struggle to access their medications because of prohibitive costs.

Medicare drug price negotiation will result in lower out-of-pocket costs for seniors and will save money for American taxpayers. Negotiations for the first group of selected drugs will begin in 2023, with negotiated prices going into effect in 2026.

Out-of-Pocket Costs for Drugs Covered Under Part D Selected for Drug Price Negotiation, by State

Today HHS also released a report showing that 9 million Medicare Part D enrollees took the drugs covered under Part D selected for negotiation and paid a total of $3.4 billion in out-of-pocket costs for these drugs in 2022. For enrollees without additional financial assistance, average annual out-of-pocket costs for these drugs were as high as $6,497 per enrollee in 2022.

To view a state-by-state breakdown of the number of Medicare enrollees who use the prescription drugs selected for negotiation and their out-of-pocket costs, visit HHS’s website.

Continuing to Lower Prescription Drug Costs

Every day, millions of seniors are saving money on prescription drug costs because of the Biden Administration’s actions. People with Medicare are saving an average of $70 in out-of-pocket costs on vaccines like shingles and Tdap because President Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act made recommended vaccines free for beneficiaries starting this past January. Nearly four million seniors and others on Medicare with diabetes started to see their insulin costs capped at $35 per month this past January, saving some seniors hundreds of dollars for a month’s supply. And some seniors taking drugs covered under Part B for which manufacturers have hiked prices faster than inflation are saving up to $449 in lower coinsurance this quarter thanks to the new Medicare inflation rebates.

People with Medicare will continue to see their prescription drug costs go down as more provisions of the Inflation Reduction Act go into effect in the coming years. Part D enrollees will no longer pay 5% co-insurance when they reach the catastrophic phase of their benefit starting in 2024. Nearly 19 million seniors and other Part D beneficiaries are projected to save $400 per year on prescription drugs when the out-of-pocket cap drops to $2,000 in 2025, and 1.9 million enrollees with the highest drug costs will save an average of $2,500 per year. And the lower prices negotiated for the high-spend drugs selected today will go into effect in 2026.

The President’s Budget for Fiscal Year 2024 builds upon the Inflation Reduction Act to continue lowering the cost of prescription drugs. For Medicare, this includes further expanding the newly established negotiation authority by extending it to more drugs and bringing drugs into negotiation sooner after they launch. The Budget also includes proposals to curb inflation in prescription drug prices and cap the prices of insulin products at $35 for a monthly prescription in the commercial market to lower drug costs for all Americans.

The ability to negotiate drug prices is historic. For decades, Big Pharma lobbyists (three for every one member of Congress) and Congressional Republicans stopped Medicare from saving taxpaying, hardworking families money by negotiating lower drug costs.

The result of that blockade was that Americans were forced to pay the highest prices for medicines in the world, despite the fact that taxpayers subsidize Big Pharma’s research and development.

“This is a game-changer for Americans who are being overcharged for medicines they need and a game-changer for Medicare because it will spend less taxpayer money to deliver the same benefits,” stated Deputy Press Secretary and Senior Communications Adviser Andrew Bates.

“This comes after President Biden also beat Big Pharma by capping the price of insulin at $35 per month for Medicare recipients. Big Pharma has spent nearly $400 million lobbying to stop these reforms.”

However, as the Biden Administration takes these newest historic actions to lower drug costs for Americans and strengthen Medicare, Congressional Republicans continue to side with Big Pharma’s price gouging and cuts to Medicare benefits instead.

Not only do congressional Republicans want to take the new benefits being announced today away from Americans with repeal legislation (just as they spent years trying to repeal the Affordable Care Act – Obamacare) – they are even siding with Big Pharma’s lawsuits to stop them in their tracks, Bates said.

Congressman Morgan Griffith endorsed their suits, saying, “every drug manufacturer probably ought to sue because it is, on its face, an unconstitutional taking.”

And reporters have frequently noted that in their opposition to this breakthrough for seniors, congressional Republicans are parroting Big Pharma’s talking points and “echoing arguments the pharmaceutical industry has made for years.”

After unsuccessfully voting to block President Biden’s plan to let Medicare negotiate lower drug costs, Congressional Republicans have sought to repeal it, in alignment with Big Pharma. In the midterms, they campaigned on repealing Medicare’s new power but shut their ears to voters’ message back to them.

This summer alone, the Republican Study Committee, which represents over three quarters of House Republicans, unveiled yet another repeal plan.

The handouts Congressional Republicans are pursuing for Big Pharma would explode our deficit, weaken Medicare, and subject more American seniors and families to price gouging for life-saving medicines, Bates said.

“Across the board, the hallmark of congressional Republicans’ trickle-down economic agenda is to increase costs and financial burdens shouldered by hardworking Americans in exchange for welfare payoffs to the super rich and multinational corporations. In this case, Big Pharma.

“Their philosophy is the polar opposite of Bidenomics, which is based on rewarding hard work and growing our economy by growing the middle class. Not leaching off the middle class for an extreme rightwing scheme to redistribute income upward.

“We should be bolstering Medicare’s ability to lower drug costs for families, instead of trying to erase them.

“This fight is far from over. President Biden is pushing to expand Medicare’s capacity to negotiate lower drug costs, which he released a concrete plan for in his budget,” Bates said.

Biden Administration, Cybersecurity, Education, News & Photo Features

Biden-Harris Administration Launches New Efforts to Strengthen America’s K-12 Schools’ Cybersecurity

August 10, 2023 krubin

Biden-Harris Administration announces new actions and private commitments to bolster the nation’s cyber defense at schools and protect American families

Administration leaders, school administrators, educators, and education technology providers will convene at the White House to discuss how to strengthen the nation’s schools’ cybersecurity amidst growing ransomware attacks

*Biden-Harris Administration announced new actions and private commitments to bolster the nation’s cyber defense at schools and protect American families © Karen Rubin/news-photos-features.com*

The United States has experienced an increase in cyberattacks that have targeted the nation’s schools in recent years. In the 2022-23 academic year alone, at least eight K-12 school districts throughout the country were impacted by significant cyberattacks – four of which left schools having to cancel classes or close completely. Not only have these attacks disrupted school operations, but they also have impacted students, their families, teachers, and administrators. Sensitive personal information – including, student grades, medical records, documented home issues, behavioral information, and financial information – of students and employees were stolen and publicly disclosed. Additionally, sensitive information about school security systems was leaked online as a result of these attacks.

Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona and Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas, joined First Lady Jill Biden, to convene school administrators, educators and private sector companies to discuss best practices and new resources available to strengthen our schools’ cybersecurity, protect American families and schools, and prevent cyberattacks from disrupting our classrooms.

According to a 2022 U.S. Government Accountability Office report, the loss of learning following a cyberattack ranged from three days to three weeks, and recovery time can take anywhere from two to nine months. Further, the monetary losses to school districts following a cyber incident ranged from $50,000 to $1 million. That is why the Biden-Harris Administration has had a relentless focus on securing our nation’s critical infrastructure since day one, and continues to work tirelessly to provide resources that enable the U.S.’s more than 13,000 school districts to better protect and defend their students and employees against cyberattacks.

The Administration is taking additional action and committing resources to strengthen the cybersecurity of the nation’s K-12 school systems, including:

Federal Communications Commission Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel is proposing establishing a pilot program under the Universal Service Fund to provide up to $200 million over three years to strengthen cyber defenses in K-12 schools and libraries in tandem with other federal agencies that have deep expertise in cybersecurity.
The U.S. Department of Education will establish a Government Coordinating Council (GCC) that will coordinate activities, policy, and communications between, and amongst, federal, state, local, tribal, and territorial education leaders to strengthen the cyber defenses and resilience of K-12 schools. By facilitating formal, ongoing collaboration between all levels of government and the education sector, the GCC will be a key first step in the Department’s strategy to protect schools and districts from cybersecurity threats and for supporting districts in preparing for, responding to, and recovering from cybersecurity attacks.
The U.S. Department of Education and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) jointly released K-12 Digital Infrastructure Brief: Defensible & Resilient, the second in a series of guidance documents to assist educational leaders in building and sustaining core digital infrastructure for learning. Additional briefs released by the U.S. Department of Education include Adequate and Future-Proof and Privacy-Enhancing, Interoperable and Useful.
CISA is committing to providing tailored assessments, facilitating exercises, and delivering cybersecurity training for 300 new K-12 entities over the coming school year. CISA plans to conduct 12 K-12 cyber exercises this year, averaging one per month, and is currently soliciting exercise requests from government and critical infrastructure partners, including the K-12 community.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the National Guard Bureau are releasing updated resource guides to ensure state government and education officials know how to report cybersecurity incidents and can leverage the federal government’s cyber defense capabilities.

Additionally, several education technology providers are committing to providing free and low-cost resources to school districts, including:

Amazon Web Services (AWS) is committing the following: $20 million for a K-12 cyber grant program available to all school districts and state departments of education; free security training offerings tailored to K-12 IT staff delivered through AWS Skill Builder; and no-cost cyber incident response assistance through its Customer Incident Response Team in the event a school district experiences a cyberattack. AWS will also provide free well-architected security reviews to U.S. education technology companies providing mission-critical applications to the K-12 community.
Cloudflare, through its Project Cybersafe Schools, will offer a suite of free Zero Trust cybersecurity solutions to public school districts under 2,500 students, to give small school districts faster, safer Internet browsing and email security.
PowerSchool, a provider of cloud-based K-12 software in the United States for 80% of school districts, will provide new free and subsidized “security as a service” courses, training, tools and resources to all U.S. schools and districts.
Google released an updated “K-12 Cybersecurity Guidebook” for schools on the most effective and impactful steps education systems can take to ensure the security of their Google hardware and software applications.
D2L, a learning platform company, is committing to: providing access to new cybersecurity courses in collaboration with trusted third-parties; extending its information security review for the core D2L integration partners; and pursuing additional third-party validation of D2L compliance with security standards.

The commitments made today will help ensure the nation’s schools are in the best position to secure their networks to keep their students, educators, and employees safe. This is the latest example of President Biden’s commitment to ease the everyday concerns facing Americans – from strengthening confidence in the safety of the devices brought into homes and classrooms to securing the cyber infrastructure of our nation’s schools.

Biden Administration, Cybersecurity, News & Photo Features

Biden-Harris Administration, DARPA Launch $20 Million Artificial Intelligence Cyber Challenge to Protect America’s Critical Software

August 10, 2023 krubin

Several leading AI companies – Anthropic, Google, Microsoft, and OpenAI – to partner with DARPA in major competition to make software more secure

The Biden-Harris Administration has launched a major two-year competition that will use artificial intelligence (AI) to protect the United States’ most important software, such as code that helps run the internet and our critical infrastructure. The “AI Cyber Challenge” (AIxCC) will challenge competitors across the United States, to identify and fix software vulnerabilities using AI. Led by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), this competition will include collaboration with several top AI companies – Anthropic, Google, Microsoft, and OpenAI – who are lending their expertise and making their cutting-edge technology available for this challenge. This competition, which will feature almost $20 million in prizes, will drive the creation of new technologies to rapidly improve the security of computer code, one of cybersecurity’s most pressing challenges. It marks the latest step by the Biden-Harris Administration to ensure the responsible advancement of emerging technologies and protect Americans.

The Biden-Harris Administration announced AIxCC at the Black Hat USA Conference in Las Vegas, Nevada, the nation’s largest hacking conference, which for decades has produced many cybersecurity innovations. By finding and fixing vulnerabilities in an automated and scalable way, AIxCC fits into this tradition. It will demonstrate the potential benefits of AI to help secure software used across the internet and throughout society, from the electric grids that power America to the transportation systems that drive daily life.

DARPA will host an open competition in which the competitor that best secures vital software will win millions of dollars in prizes. AI companies will make their cutting-edge technology—some of the most powerful AI systems in the world—available for competitors to use in designing new cybersecurity solutions. To ensure broad participation and a level playing field for AIxCC, DARPA will also make available $7 million to small businesses who want to compete.

Teams will participate in a qualifying event in Spring 2024, where the top scoring teams (up to 20) will be invited to participate in the semifinal competition at DEF CON 2024, one of the world’s top cybersecurity conferences. Of these, the top scoring teams (up to five) will receive monetary prizes and continue to the final phase of the competition, to be held at DEF CON 2025. The top three scoring competitors in the final competition will receive additional monetary prizes.

The top competitors will make a meaningful difference in cybersecurity for America and the world. The Open Source Security Foundation (OpenSSF), a project of the Linux Foundation, will serve as a challenge advisor. It will also help ensure that the winning software code is put to use right away protecting America’s most vital software and keeping the American people safe.

Today’s announcement is part of a broader commitment by the Biden-Harris Administration to ensure that the power of AI is harnessed to address the nation’s great challenges, and that AI is developed safely and responsibly to protect Americans from harm and discrimination. Last month, the Biden-Harris Administration announced it had secured voluntary commitments from seven leading AI companies to manage the risks posed by the technology. Earlier this year, the Administration announced a commitment from several AI companies to participate in an independent, public evaluation of large language models (LLMs)—consistent with responsible disclosure principles—at DEF CON 2023. This exercise, which starts later this week and is the first-ever public assessment of multiple LLMs, will help advance safer, more secure and more transparent AI development.

In addition, the Biden-Harris Administration is currently developing an executive order and will pursue bipartisan legislation to help America lead the way in responsible AI innovation.