Rep. Louie Gohmert, R-Texas, argued Wednesday that President Obama’s decision to put Vice President Joe Biden in charge of a new national effort to cure cancer means the U.S. may not be curing cancer anytime soon.
In his State of the Union address Tuesday night, Obama said the U.S. should see curing cancer as its modern-day moon shot, and said Biden should lead the effort.
“[B]ecause he’s gone to the mat for all of us, on so many issues over the past 40 years, I’m putting Joe in charge of mission control,” Obama said. It was widely seen as a nod to Biden, who lost his son Beau to cancer last year.
But Gohmert said Biden has been in charge of other things under Obama, and had little success in getting things done.
“Well, I love the idea that we’re going to cure cancer, that’d be fantastic. A lot of loved ones … have died of cancer,” he said on the House floor.
“But then when I heard he’s gonna put Joe in charge, I remembe r… Mr. Speaker, wasn’t it … he was going to stamp out all waste, fraud and abuse in the federal government?”
“It seems like he says ‘I’m going to put Joe in charge’ when he may not really be serious about doing anything or having any results,” he concluded. “So we’ll see.”
