[Congressional Record Volume 167, Number 51 (Thursday, March 18, 2021)]
[Senate]
[Pages S1627-S1629]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                      Nomination of Xavier Becerra

  Mr. WYDEN. Mr. President and colleagues, very shortly, the Senate 
will have the opportunity to confirm Attorney General Becerra to be the 
next Health and Human Services Secretary, and what this means is, after 
4 years of going in reverse on health policy, it will be possible to 
drive and actually make progress for the American people in addressing 
their healthcare needs--progress in terms of lowering the cost of 
healthcare. We spent $3.8 trillion last year. So we have to lower 
costs, and we have to do it in a way that enhances quality, and 
Attorney General Becerra is going to be laser-focused on the key 
priorities for the days ahead. We all know that at the heart of that 
agenda is making it possible to end this pandemic.
  Now, central to his agenda is going to be the distribution of 
vaccines because there are a lot of pieces to the challenge of beating 
the pandemic, but right at the heart of it is distribution of those 
vaccines and PPE and bringing together all the people at Health and 
Human Services and in our country to have a coordinated strategy for 
dealing with the pandemic.
  We didn't have that in the past. I remember--and I am sure the 
Presiding Officer remembers--at one point, we didn't have any idea who 
was in charge. One day it was going to be the States. The next day it 
was going to be Jared Kushner. There was just bedlam for weeks and 
weeks with respect to who would even coordinate this country's strategy 
against the pandemic. With Xavier Becerra there, that will not be the 
case.
  I just want--because I see colleagues also wanting to speak--to talk 
about another crucial aspect about having Xavier Becerra at the 
Department of Health and Human Services. What he is going to have to do 
is move quickly to reverse some of those flawed policies of the Trump 
administration, like junk insurance, barely worth the paper it was 
written on, the mindless restrictions that were placed on coverage. For 
example, that made it harder for people to get access to Medicaid. And 
some of what they did just defied common sense, making it tougher for 
people to enroll in the Affordable Care Act, and having modest efforts 
in New Jersey and Michigan and elsewhere to do outreach and to tell 
people about the availability of coverage.
  What in the world is healthcare about? It is about getting coverage 
out to people, not inventing barriers to their getting care.
  Finally, I just want to mention some of the exciting things from the 
recovery legislation that he will be able to focus on. I am sure my 
colleague from Michigan is going to be talking about these issues, as 
well, in the days ahead. But what is going to be done in terms of 
delivering postpartum care, an area where there has been enormous 
racial injustice, is going to make a huge difference--a major part of 
the recovery plan--the home and community-based services, which build 
on some of the work being done in the community. I remember from my 
days when I was director of the Gray Panthers, helping seniors and the 
disabled. And we are so excited about mental health officials and law 
enforcement officials coming together for what is known as the CAHOOTS 
Program from my home State, dealing with the racial tensions on the 
streets.
  So Xavier Becerra has been running this mammoth agency in his State. 
You know, people say: What is his experience? He was on the Ways and 
Means Committee for years and years, the committee of jurisdiction as 
it relates to these issues, and then has been in California taking on 
monopolies, fighting those who would rip off the healthcare system, 
sticking up for the Affordable Care Act. So he has had frontline 
experience on these issues.
  He should have been confirmed a long time ago, but now we are on the 
precipice of finally getting somebody who is going to take us forward 
in that key Agency in terms of meeting the healthcare needs for our 
colleagues.
  When we have this vote shortly, I urge in the strongest possible way 
for the Senate to vote to confirm Attorney General Xavier Becerra for 
this crucial position.
  I yield the floor to my colleague.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Michigan.
  Ms. STABENOW. Mr. President, first, I have to say to my friend and 
our lead on the Finance Committee how grateful I am for his leadership. 
We have started out very strongly on the Finance Committee with really 
important topics. I so appreciated yesterday focusing on nursing homes 
and what has happened the day before, focusing on advanced 
manufacturing and jobs, and your efforts today. It is just issue after 
issue. It is wonderful to have you in this position.
  Mr. WYDEN. I thank my colleague.
  Ms. STABENOW. And to be your partner in this.
  And I so appreciate the leadership of the Senator who is currently in 
the Chair, from New Jersey, as well.
  I rise today, as well, to speak on behalf of an outstanding nominee 
to lead the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. If there ever 
was a time we needed an outstanding leader, it is right now.
  One of the things I find so interesting is that colleagues on the 
other side of the aisle say they wish he was a doctor. Well, the 
previous Health and Human Services Secretary was the former CEO of a 
drug company. And so, from my

[[Page S1628]]

perspective, I am much more comfortable having somebody who fought drug 
companies to lower prescription drug prices than to have had the person 
in that job before be the person who actually raised prices on people 
in his former position and tried to block competition. So he is the 
right person. Xavier Becerra is the right person for this moment, I 
believe.
  Our Nation is still fighting to emerge from the worst pandemic in our 
lifetime. It is hard to believe now that it has been over a year that 
we have been struggling and families have been struggling with this 
pandemic. Nearly 540,000 American lives are lost. It is hard for me to 
even say it and have a concept of what that is right now, the number of 
people who have lost loved ones and friends and neighbors. Countless 
more have gotten sick. Many more remain sick months later.
  The cost to our economy and way of life has been massive. Millions of 
workers have lost their jobs. Thousands of businesses have closed, too 
many of them, permanently.
  Families are struggling to pay their rent or mortgage, keep the heat 
on--which is really important in a place like Michigan in the winter--
keep the lights on, put food on the table.
  Schools are working hard to reopen safely. And, in the meantime, 
families are doing the best they can to make sure their children can 
keep up.
  It is true that we are making progress. We are making progress. 
Things are getting better step by step by step.
  Thanks to science, we have three very effective vaccines going into 
the arms of people across our country, and with the American Rescue 
Plan being signed into law, in fact, help is here. It is here.
  So now is the time that, as we focus on getting help to where it is 
needed, Attorney General Becerra is just the leader to do this as the 
head of Health and Human Services.
  His experience will be a tremendous asset as he works to address the 
pandemic and make healthcare more affordable. He led the defense in 
court of the Affordable Care Act, which he helped to write. It was my 
pleasure to work with him during that process, to work with him as 
House Members and then to work with him when we were writing the ACA, 
both in the Ways and Means Committee, in which he sat in the House, and 
my sitting on the Finance Committee. He protected the healthcare of 
millions in his position as attorney general. He has taken on drug 
companies, as I said before, for their high prices and their role in 
the opioid epidemic. And he has worked to enforce mental health parity 
in California, which I think is so, so, so important.
  So many people are living with mental illness and addiction right now 
and have been. In January, 41 percent of American adults said they were 
struggling with anxiety or depression. So things have gotten worse--the 
pressure on people as a result of what everybody has gone through in 
the last year. That is up from 11 percent before the pandemic, and more 
than one in four young people have reported having suicidal thoughts. 
Meanwhile, communities are seeing more people overdose. Long after the 
pandemic ends, these behavioral health issues will linger.
  Attorney General Becerra began his career as a legal aid attorney 
supporting clients with mental health issues and substance abuse 
issues. He knows in his heart and soul how important this is. He will 
bring that same compassion and dedication to HHS as we work to expand 
access to care, including through certified community behavioral health 
clinics, on which I am so proud to have partnered with Senator Roy 
Blunt and so many of our colleagues across the aisle to move forward as 
the new structure for comprehensive, coordinated care in the community. 
And it is beginning to make a difference, but we have a lot more to do, 
and we need somebody at the head of HHS who gets it. That is why I so 
strongly support Xavier Becerra, among so many other reasons.
  American families deserve to know that they have someone at the 
Department of Health and Human Services who has their backs. With 
Attorney General Becerra, they will know they have someone who has 
their back.
  He is the leader we need to help us end this pandemic, to get people 
the care they need, to strengthen our healthcare system, and to get our 
country back on track.
  So I look forward to voting for this excellent nominee and putting 
him to work on behalf of the American people. I urge my colleagues to 
join us in supporting this excellent nominee.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Wyoming.
  Mr. BARRASSO. Mr. President, I come to the floor today to oppose the 
nomination for Secretary of Health and Human Services of Xavier 
Becerra.
  As I stand here today, America is still fighting the worst pandemic 
in a century. More than half a million Americans, as we have just 
heard, have died of this coronavirus. Life expectancy in our country 
has actually dropped by a full year. Now, as a doctor, I will tell you 
that is a significant drop of life expectancy.
  In this time of crisis, our Secretary of Health and Human Services 
may be the single most important member in the President's Cabinet. 
There are many well-qualified Democrats, in my opinion, who could serve 
in this position. For example, I voted to confirm President Obama's 
last Secretary of Health and Human Services, Sylvia Burwell. She was 
confirmed by a large bipartisan majority.
  That is not the kind of nominee that we have this time. In the middle 
of a crisis, President Biden has chosen someone who is, in my opinion, 
both unqualified and unfit for this specific job.
  First, Attorney General Becerra is unqualified. Let me talk about 
that. As a doctor, I am deeply concerned that President Biden has 
nominated someone with no medical or public health experience. He is 
not a doctor, not a scientist, not a public health official. He is a 
trial lawyer and a career politician. A global pandemic is no time for 
on-the-job healthcare training. The Secretary must be ready on day one.
  Attorney General Becerra is not only unqualified, I say he is 
radically liberal in his positions. Attorney General Becerra is the 
most leftwing nominee for this job, in my opinion, in history. He is an 
aggressive culture warrior from the radical left. He supports Medicare 
for All, which would ban private health insurance, and 180 million 
people who get their health insurance through their jobs would lose it. 
If his positions go forward and he has his way, American workers would 
lose that opportunity and that benefit of their jobs.
  He has made a name for himself in the Democratic Party for his 
extreme positions on abortion. During his 24 years in Congress, 
Attorney General Becerra voted against every restriction on abortion. 
During his confirmation hearing, Senator Daines even asked him to name 
a single restriction he would support. He couldn't name a single one. 
This record has earned him a ``100 percent'' rating from Planned 
Parenthood.
  As a Congressman, Mr. Becerra even voted against the ban on partial-
birth abortion. The Supreme Court, rightly, upheld banning partial-
birth abortions in the United States.
  This wasn't the only time the attorney general's positions were at 
odds with that of the current Supreme Court as he was attorney general 
in California.
  During his confirmation hearing, Mr. Becerra claimed he never sued 
any nuns. That is his quote: ``never sued any nuns.'' He also said he 
only sued because of California law. Well, both of these statements 
stretch the truth, to put it mildly.
  In 2017, the Trump administration gave a group of nuns an exception 
from being required to pay for birth control. The nuns say that 
violates their religious beliefs, having to pay for birth control. 
Attorney General Becerra then sued the Trump administration to stop 
them from giving this exemption. Attorney General of California 
Becerra, the nominee to be Secretary of Health and Human Services, lost 
at the Supreme Court by a vote of 7 to 2.
  One of the jobs of the Secretary of Health and Human Services is to 
protect the conscience rights of doctors and nurses. Mr. Becerra's 
record shows he can't be trusted to do that.
  There is a well-known case involving Crisis Pregnancy Centers. Now, 
these are groups that help women facing an unplanned pregnancy. 
California said

[[Page S1629]]

they had to advertise where these women could go to get abortions. 
Attorney General Becerra brought the full power of the State of 
California against the pro-life groups. Once again, the Supreme Court 
of the United States stepped in to stop him.
  Mr. Becerra also used the power of his office to criminally prosecute 
pro-life journalists. A pro-life activist went undercover to 
investigate Planned Parenthood for trafficking in aborted body parts. 
His revelations caused outrage across the country. Attorney General 
Becerra charged him, the undercover reporter, with 15 felony counts.
  This was too much even for Attorney General Becerra's liberal 
hometown newspaper. The Los Angeles Times said:

       It's disturbingly aggressive for Becerra to apply this 
     criminal statute to people who were trying to influence a 
     contested issue of public policy, regardless of how sound or 
     popular that policy may be.

  So Attorney General Becerra is a radical liberal on a whole host of 
issues. As attorney general of California, he sued the Trump 
administration over 120 different times. That is quite a few. This 
includes filing nine lawsuits on the very last day of President Trump's 
administration--the very last day, nine more lawsuits added to the 
pile.

  He sued to try to stop President Trump from building the wall on the 
southern border. He sued the Trump administration to try to stop 
fracking on Federal lands in California. This is just the tip of the 
iceberg. The list goes on and on. When you look at the record, it is 
clear: Xavier Becerra is out of touch with the views of the American 
people.
  President Biden has chosen an extremely liberal Cabinet. He was 
forced to withdraw his nominee for Budget Director. His Vice President 
has been the least bipartisan, in terms of a Senator of record, of any 
Senator in 2019. And now Attorney General Becerra seems to be the most 
liberal of them all.
  Frankly, his selection, I think, shocked a lot of people across the 
country. During this pandemic, we need a leader for the Department of 
Health and Human Services who brings us together as a nation. Instead, 
the President has chosen a nominee with no public health experience and 
an extremely partisan record, so I urge my colleagues to reject this 
unqualified, incredibly liberal nominee.
  Thank you.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Oklahoma.
  Mr. INHOFE. Mr. President, President Biden has a lot of duties and 
obligations and a lot on his plate right now. The important thing that 
we are involved in, that we are all concerned about, are the nominees, 
who they are, what the process is, and what leverage do we in the 
minority have to impact that.
  I think that Xavier Becerra is not fit to be our Secretary of Health 
and Human Services, and I say this because of his appalling track 
record disrespecting the sanctity of life, blatantly attacking First 
Amendment rights, and his extreme policy views.
  Now, throughout his career, Mr. Becerra has proven he has no shame 
when it comes to his pro-abortion beliefs. As attorney general of 
California, Becerra led a yearslong lawsuit targeting the Little 
Sisters of the Poor. This order of Catholic nuns is devoted to caring 
for the elderly poor. All they want is to be free to operate in 
accordance with their religious beliefs, and I think we can all 
understand that. But Becerra sued the Federal Government to force the 
nuns--and we are talking about the Little Sisters of the Poor--to 
provide access to birth control and abortion-inducing drugs, completely 
disrespecting their religious beliefs.
  During his confirmation hearings, multiple Senators asked Mr. Becerra 
about his lawsuit, and he said:

       I've never sued any affiliation of nuns. [M]y actions have 
     always been directed at the Federal agencies.

  But I think it is pretty misleading because he may have sued the 
Federal Government, but his actions certainly were directed at the 
nuns.
  And that is not his only assault on life. Mr. Becerra also fought 
against the Trump administration's title X rule in court. We all 
remember this. This is where he ensured that Federal tax dollars would 
only go toward family planning clinics that don't offer abortions.
  And, during the pandemic, Becerra has been an aggressive advocate of 
expanding access to chemical abortions, thereby providing abortions by 
mail that are done at home and without the supervision of a medical 
provider. And all abortions, in my view--and I know a lot of people 
don't agree with this, but I think all abortions are bad. But 
increasing unsupervised access to chemical abortions, which are four 
times more likely to cause problems and complications for the mother 
than surgical abortions, shows that Mr. Becerra's concern isn't about 
health; it is about his pro-abortion agenda.
  We shouldn't be surprised. During his time in Congress, Mr. Becerra 
voted against multiple pro-life bills, including the partial-birth 
abortion ban, and that was one that was sponsored on both sides. It was 
a bipartisan bill. It banned the horrific procedure in which a baby is 
partially delivered and then painfully destroyed.
  But Becerra isn't just radical in his support for abortion. He also 
goes after the First Amendment rights of individuals who disagree with 
him. I am sure everyone here remembers the shocking, heart-wrenching 
evidence collected by two undercover journalists in 2015 that showed 
Planned Parenthood's involvement in selling the body parts of aborted 
babies. Becerra has chosen to prosecute the journalists rather than 
take the action to protect babies and investigate the evidence of this 
behavior.
  Becerra also targeted the California pro-life pregnancy centers by 
forcing them to advertise abortions, in violation of their First 
Amendment rights. Now, he fought them all the way to the U.S. Supreme 
Court, and he lost.
  But he didn't give up. Last fall, he supported California's ban on 
indoor worship services, also in violation of the First Amendment, and 
he lost again in the Supreme Court. He doesn't give up. Justice Gorsuch 
said--and this is a quote from Justice Gorsuch. He said:

       If Hollywood may host a studio audience or film a singing 
     competition while not a single soul may enter California's 
     churches, synagogues, and mosques, something has gone 
     seriously awry.

  I agree with Justice Gorsuch in that observation.
  Becerra also wants to decriminalize illegal immigration, saying:

       They are not criminals. They haven't committed a crime 
     against someone.

  Should he be confirmed to be the HHS Secretary, he would be 
positioned to give illegal immigrants access to his programs.
  So, lastly, I just want to send a message to the pro-life movement, 
to people in Oklahoma and Americans all around the country who really 
believe in the sanctity of life. We are not going to give up in trying 
to block this nomination, and we will do everything we can to stop the 
confirmation of Xavier Becerra.
  I yield the floor.
  I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for 
the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.