White House frustrations grow over health chief Becerra’s handling of pandemic

As health secretary, Becerra oversees a $1.5 trillion agency charged with responding to myriad national crises, including disease outbreaks, extreme weather events and housing migrant children at the border. He is responsible for coordinating policy rollouts and communications among health agencies such as the Food and Drug Administration, the National Institutes of Health and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, a job made particularly difficult by the pandemic. The nation’s most prominent health officials, including CDC Director Rochelle Walensky, Surgeon General Vivek H. Murthy and Anthony S. Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, all report to Becerra or his deputies.