[Congressional Record Volume 167, Number 50 (Wednesday, March 17, 2021)]
[Senate]
[Pages S1597-S1598]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                      Nomination of Xavier Becerra

  Madam President, just switching very briefly, I want to urge my 
colleagues to join me in support of the nomination of Xavier Becerra to 
serve as Secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
  I consider Mr. Becerra a friend. I had the privilege of serving with 
him in the House of Representatives. In fact, we both came to Congress 
at the same time, a time, I might add, when there were far fewer 
Latinos elected to Federal office than we have today.
  As a member of the Ways and Means Subcommittee on Health, Mr. Becerra 
frequently spoke up for the many Americans left behind by our 
healthcare system: seniors facing sky-high prescription drug bills, 
patients with preexisting conditions, children, and the working poor.
  Furthermore, he played an active role in the effort to pass the 
Affordable Care Act, a landmark law that since 2010 has changed the 
lives of millions of Americans in New Jersey and across the Nation for 
the better.
  As California's attorney general, no one has fought harder to protect 
the Affordable Care Act than Xavier Becerra. And if confirmed to this 
position, no one will work harder to protect and improve access to 
healthcare than he will.
  As the first Secretary of Health and Human Services of Latino 
descent, I know that Mr. Becerra will focus a great deal on addressing 
the health disparities that are harming so many lower income and 
minority communities nationwide, disparities we saw played out over the 
past year as COVID-19 claimed a disproportionate number of Black and 
Brown lives.
  Mr. Becerra will also work to undo the damage wrought by the Trump 
administration to our healthcare system, from weakening nursing home 
standards that left seniors more vulnerable in this pandemic to 
allowing health insurers to, once again, sell shoddy, skimpy plans to 
consumers that failed to protect them from massive medical bills.
  And, finally, I want to address some of the criticisms I have heard 
from my colleagues on the other side of the aisle regarding Mr. 
Becerra's qualifications. The notion that Mr. Becerra has no managerial 
experience is laughable, given that as California's attorney general, 
he has successfully led the second largest Justice Department in the 
Nation, second only to the U.S. Department of Justice.
  And it is not lost on me that those questioning Mr. Becerra's 
credentials are the very same colleagues who claim that Congressman Tom 
Price's background as a doctor qualified him to lead an Agency that 
touches the lives of every single person in our great land. Well, he 
was a disaster and did not last a full year as Secretary of HHS. And 
the immediate past Secretary was a lawyer who did a good job in his 
pharmaceutical firm of dramatically pushing up insulin prices.
  So I am confident that both Mr. Becerra's passion for healthcare 
issues, as demonstrated throughout his tenure in Congress, and his 
record as California's attorney general will serve him well as 
Secretary of Health and Human Services.
  I urge my colleagues to support his nomination. He will lead this 
Agency with integrity and, most importantly, make the health of the 
American people his No. 1 priority.
  With that, I yield the floor and thank my colleague from Ohio for 
indulging my time.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The senior Senator from Ohio.
  Mr. BROWN. Madam President, I rise to speak in favor of Xavier 
Becerra, as Senator Menendez just did.
  Like Senator Menendez, when Xavier and I came, we all were in the 
first class in 1992 together. I consider him a friend also and have 
admired the work that he did as a Member of Congress, as attorney 
general, and the work that he will do at HHS.
  In the middle of the worst health crisis of our lifetime, we need 
someone leading this Department who understands the importance of 
public health and who will work to build a stronger, more affordable 
healthcare system for the future. That is what Xavier Becerra will do.
  He has the experience for this job. As Senator Menendez pointed out, 
he ran the Nation's second largest law firm. He helped pass the 
Affordable Care Act, as a Member of the House, that expanded coverage 
to millions of Ohioans and tens of millions of Americans.
  I think the Republican opposition, all partisan opposition, to 
Attorney General Becerra for Secretary of HHS, as Senator Casey pointed 
out, is all about their opposition to the Affordable Care Act, their 
opposition to expansion of Medicaid. I heard one Senator after another 
say their State isn't treated right by Medicaid, but they didn't even 
expand Medicaid in many of those States.
  As State attorney general, he took on tobacco companies, drug 
companies, opioid manufacturers, and polluters. That is another reason 
Republicans oppose him, because he took on their biggest contributors 
and their sponsors and the people they come to the Senate and fight 
for. That willingness to stand up to big drug companies is going to be 
more important than ever in the years ahead.
  The cost of prescription drugs eats away at the budget of seniors and 
families in Cleveland and Akron and Mansfield and Youngstown and 
Dayton. I look forward to working with future Secretary Becerra to 
bring down those drug prices. I also hope we can work together to 
expand the Affordable Care Act and to make it work even better for the 
families.
  We started this month, and the Presiding Officer from Wisconsin was a 
part of this, with the American Rescue Plan. People buying healthcare 
in the ACA exchanges are going to have lower premiums because of the 
rescue plan.
  Mr. Becerra will work to undo the vast disparities in healthcare in 
our country. This pandemic has been the great revealer. It has shown 
how unequal access to care and pollution and biases in the system and 
so much else have hurt the health of Black and Brown Americans for 
generations.
  We need to start with getting accurate data on how different 
communities have been hurt by this pandemic, something I have pushed 
for over the past year and something I know will be a priority to the 
new Secretary of Health and Human Services.
  I urge my colleagues to join me in confirming him so he can work to 
help get every American vaccinated, to expand PPE and COVID testing 
supplies, and to build a stronger healthcare system for the future

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