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The Senate Finance Committee on Wednesday split on Xavier Becerra, Biden’s nominee to lead the Department of Health and Human Services, in a 14-14 vote that broke along party lines. Because of the tie, Senate Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) would need to advance Becerra’s nomination to the full Senate for a confirmation vote that has yet to be scheduled.
“Bottom line, this country is in the middle of a public health nightmare, and the American people need to have a Senate-confirmed leader running HHS as soon as possible,” said Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), the committee’s chairman. “HHS is right at the center of the effort to save lives and end the pandemic.”
Becerra — who has served as California attorney general since 2019 and as a longtime Democratic congressman before that — has been widely attacked by conservatives, criticizing his past support of Medicare-for-all and his efforts to sue the Trump administration over its health-care policies.
Becerra is a “culture war super-soldier,” Sen. Ben Sasse (R-Neb.) said in multiple statements this week, and the conservative advocacy group Heritage Action released ads on Wednesday urging Senate Democrats in Arizona and West Virginia to vote against the nomination.
Other Republicans have focused on Becerra’s lack of health-care experience, particularly compared with previous HHS secretaries who served as state heath officials, worked in the pharmaceutical industry or oversaw Medicaid programs in their roles as governors.
“He is a very good attorney general,” said Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.). “But his qualifications to be HHS secretary seem to be minimal beyond suing HHS.” Cassidy added that Becerra showed little familiarity with health-care programs run by HHS when quizzed in a pair of Senate hearings last month.
Sen. Mike Crapo (Idaho), the committee’s ranking Republican, voted against Becerra but pledged to work with him on public health priorities such as improving telemedicine and reforming payments to health-care providers if he is confirmed.
