WASHINGTON — Congress has finally funded the agency that President Biden has pledged will help “end cancer as we know it.”
But when they set aside $1 billion for the new agency, to be known as ARPA-H, lawmakers paved a chaotic path forward, leaving unresolved major questions like where the agency will be located, and whether it will exist independently or as part of the National Institutes of Health.
In a surprising twist, lawmakers have punted the second decision to health secretary Xavier Becerra. However, considering the Biden administration’s long-held stance that ARPA-H should be housed within the NIH, research experts say it’s not much of a decision at all.
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