First lady Jill Biden walks out of the White House in Washington, Wednesday, Jan. 11, 2023, as she and President Joe Biden prepare to board Marine One. The White House says surgeons have removed a cancerous lesion above first lady Jill Biden’s right eye and one on her chest, and that a third lesion on her left eyelid is being examined. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)
First lady Jill Biden underwent Mohs surgery today to have cancerous skin lesions removed.
The lesions, one of which was located above the first lady's right eye and another newly discovered one on her chest, were detected during a routine skin cancer screening a week ago.
The procedure involves multiple rounds if cancer cells are detected in the removed skin. Typically a doctor will slice off a thin layer of skin from the lesion and analyze it under a microscope. Once it is determined that cancer cells are present, the procedure is repeated until the area is completely free of cancerous cells.
Dr. Kevin O'Connor, President Joe Biden's personal physician, confirmed that Dr. Biden's lesions were basal cell cancer — the most common type of skin cancer, which is typically treatable in its early stages.
President Biden accompanied his wife to Walter Reed National Military Medical Center where the surgery was performed.
A legislative package to end the government shutdown appears on track. A handful of Senate Democrats joined with Republicans to advance the bill after what's become a deepening disruption of federal programs and services. But hurdles remain. Senators are hopeful they can pass the package as soon as Monday and send it to the House. What’s in and out of the bipartisan deal has drawn criticism and leaves few senators fully satisfied. The legislation includes funding for SNAP food aid and other programs while ensuring backpay for furloughed federal workers. But it fails to fund expiring health care subsidies Democrats have been fighting for, pushing that debate off for a vote next month.
Sabrina Siddiqui, National Politics Reporter at The Wall Street Journal, joins to break down the SNAP funding delays and the human cost of the ongoing shutdown.
Arguments at the Supreme Court have concluded for the day as the justices consider President Donald Trump's sweeping unilateral tariffs in a trillion-dollar test of executive power.
President Donald Trump said he has decided to lower his combined tariff rates on imports of Chinese goods to 47% after talks with Chinese leader Xi Jinping on curbing fentanyl trafficking.
The Federal Reserve cut its key interest rate Wednesday for a second time this year as it seeks to shore up economic growth and hiring even as inflation stays elevated. The move comes amid a fraught time for the central bank, with hiring sluggish and yet inflation stuck above the Fed’s 2% target. Compounding its challenges, the central bank is navigating without much of the economic data it typically relies on from the government. The Fed has signaled it may reduce its key rate again in December but the data drought raises the uncertainty around its next moves. Fed Chair Jerome Powell told reporters that there were “strongly differing views” at the central bank's policy meeting about to proceed going forward.
