[Congressional Record Volume 167, Number 50 (Wednesday, March 17, 2021)]
[Senate]
[Pages S1608-S1609]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                      Nomination of Xavier Becerra

  Now, a bright spot for America today is the confirmation, which we 
hope will happen in the next 24 hours, of the first Latino Secretary of 
Health and Human Services in America, the first. He was the first in 
his working-class family to go to college. He broke barriers throughout 
his career.
  Xavier Becerra, presently the attorney general of California, will be 
a leader of toughness, bravery, and vision at the Department of Health 
and Human Services.
  I stand here as a former attorney general, actually, for 20 years. I 
know well how much of that job is spent on healthcare policy, and I 
know also the management skills it takes to achieve real concrete 
results.
  Attorney General Becerra is deeply qualified because of his work as 
State attorney general, but he also enjoys a wealth of other 
experience, both personal and professional, that make him exactly the 
right person at this moment for that job. He knows the importance of 
healthcare--equitable healthcare, reducing the disparities in 
healthcare in our country that afflict us now.
  We have been in a healthcare crisis for more than a year, the 
deepest, most painful healthcare crisis in our lives and maybe for a 
full century, a time of heartbreak and hardship, when a deadly, 
insidious virus has threatened economic upheaval and disaster. It is a 
pandemic that has left no family untouched, as all of us in this 
Chamber know, and no community unscathed.
  We have lost more than half a million of our fellow citizens and 
people to COVID-19, including 7,800-plus in Connecticut. While there is 
light at the end of the tunnel, each day brings a new loss. And we 
don't know how long that tunnel may be.
  The Biden administration has been laser-focused on ending this 
pandemic since day one. Every day, more and more Americans are 
receiving the vaccine. Every day, more and more Americans are beginning 
to see the big, bold benefits of the American Rescue Plan that 
President Biden signed last week, and every day we are seeing strong 
leadership from the Biden administration in addressing this deep 
crisis.
  While there is hope at this moment, there are immense healthcare 
challenges still to be overcome, from increasing healthcare 
affordability and reducing the uninsured rate to lowering drug costs, 
to fighting back against healthcare disparities and protecting 
reproductive rights, and, I would repeat, lowering prescription drug 
costs. Job No. 1 for America, lowering prescription drug costs. Job No. 
2, lowering prescription drug costs. We need to reduce the prices of 
medicine that Americans need every day, aside from the pandemic, every 
day. Prescription drug prices plague them, cause them worry, force them 
to make tough choices between eating and using the medicine, paying 
their rent, and buying the drugs they need to survive.
  Attorney General Becerra served as deputy attorney general in 
California and later as a member of the State assembly before he went 
to the House of Representatives, here in the Capitol, for more than two 
decades. As a Congressman--and I think this point is really important--
then-Representative Xavier Becerra fought to pass the Affordable Care 
Act, and then he fought to defend it against the Trump administration.
  As California's attorney general, he was a warrior in fighting to 
preserve the ACA, and he will continue to fight for the men and women 
who depend on the ACA. And more and more of them, fortunately, are 
taking advantage of it because of the American Rescue Plan.
  He is also a leader in taking on Big Tobacco. I sued the tobacco 
companies, helped to lead a multi-State attorney general group, and I 
know it takes courage to stand up and speak out and act against Big 
Tobacco. And he has done more. He has taken that fight to a new 
frontier. He is committed to protecting our children from the scourge 
of flavored tobacco and the insidious products--often they are flavored 
too--that are sold by vaping giants, which now include some tobacco 
companies.

[[Page S1609]]

  Attorney General Becerra is a leader in protecting reproductive 
rights. He is a leader in expanding mental healthcare services. He is a 
leader in the fight against the opioid epidemic. He is a leader for 
LGBTQ health and for ending the disparities.
  We are in a racial justice movement now, a racial justice movement 
that is seeking to end those deep disparities, causing twice as many 
people in communities of color to die during the pandemic and only half 
as many now to have the vaccine so far because we have lived through 4 
years of dishonesty and disregard for science and 4 years of attacks on 
our healthcare system, particularly for the underserved.
  That is the challenge, among others, that Attorney General Becerra 
will confront. He will be vigorous, brave, and tough, and he will work 
to lower the cost of prescription drugs. He will take on those 
interests that may be against the healthcare goals and purposes of the 
American people. And we need him now more than ever in this critical 
position. I urge my colleagues to vote for him tomorrow when we have 
the chance to do so.
  I yield the floor
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Ossoff). The Senator from California.