Xavier Becerra wins confirmation to Biden’s cabinet. Now Gavin Newsom has a decision to make
California Attorney General Xavier Becerra won Senate confirmation to join President Joe Biden’s cabinet on Thursday, securing a mostly party-line vote to serve as secretary of Health and Human Services.
Becerra, known for the battery of more than 100 lawsuits he filed against the Trump administration, was confirmed 50-49. He still has to be sworn in before he officially takes the position, which will likely occur within the week.
The vote means California Gov. Gavin Newsom will have to select a replacement as California’s attorney general.
Newsom has said he would not announce a decision until Becerra’s confirmation. Newsom’s short list reportedly includes Assemblyman Rob Bonta, Sacramento Mayor Darrell Steinberg and Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Burbank.
Newsom praised Becerra’s confirmation in a statement after the vote, but did not mention a plan on who would replace Becerra as attorney general.
“Today, Xavier Becerra again makes history, and our nation takes a bold step towards a full and equitable recovery from COVID-19,” Newsom said. “Xavier’s distinguished record of public service, and lifelong commitment to the most vulnerable, reflect the best of California’s values and exactly the qualities we need in the national leaders who will shepherd us through the end of this pandemic.”
Republicans for weeks had tried to sink the nomination of Becerra, who grew up in Sacramento. Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Kentucky, frequently called Becerra “famously partisan,” and unqualified for a position overseeing the nation’s health care policies in the midst of a global pandemic. Some Senate Republicans tried to blame him for California’s lockdowns due to COVID-19.
Becerra and Senate Democrats countered that he had a hand developing the Affordable Care Act when he represented Los Angeles in the House of Representatives as evidence of his relevant health care experience. A number of the lawsuits he filed against the Trump administration centered on defending the health care law as Republicans sought to undo it.
Becerra “has decades of standing up for working and middle-class Americans in Congress, fighting to protect and expand Medicare, Medicaid, and working to safeguard our health care system from attacks by the Trump administration,” Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-NewYork, said in a floor speech Thursday morning. “As the Biden administration works to defeat this pandemic, the president deserves to have his cabinet confirmed, especially a post as important as HHS secretary.”
All the Republicans on the Senate Finance Committee voted against Becerra after his committee hearings. They incorrectly accused him of filing a lawsuit against an organization of nuns to force them to provide contraceptives. Becerra had actually filed suit against the administration of former President Donald Trump, and the nuns had been allowed to join the lawsuit later.
His committee vote ended in a tie down party lines, meaning Schumer had to take the extra step of having the full Senate vote on whether to advance Becerra’s nomination out of committee last week. That vote revealed Becerra had the support of not just every Senate Democrat, but also Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine.
“During our one-on-one meeting, and in three subsequent conversations, Mr. Becerra and I discussed several shared goals that I hope we can accomplish in the Biden administration,” Collins said in a statement. “Although there are issues where I strongly disagree with Mr. Becerra, I believe he merits confirmation as HHS secretary. I look forward to working with the department to achieve bipartisan results on behalf of the American people.”
The Department of Health and Human Services has jurisdiction over the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Food and Drug Administration and other agencies with significant sway in how Biden’s administration handles the COVID-19 pandemic.
Becerra repeatedly said during his confirmation hearings that the pandemic would be his top priority as secretary, though he offered little specifics in how he planned to tackle issues relating to the novel coronavirus, besides that he wanted to deliver on Biden’s promise to get 100 million vaccine shots in the first 100 days “safely and equitably.”
“As attorney general, I saw the importance of this on the frontlines,” Becerra said. “I worked with colleagues in other states – both Republicans and Democrats – to make COVID treatments more readily available. I am ready to work with you, our state and local partners and across government to get this right.”
This story was originally published March 18, 2021 at 9:47 AM with the headline "Xavier Becerra wins confirmation to Biden’s cabinet. Now Gavin Newsom has a decision to make."
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