Becerra's big challenge: Vaccinating Americans against virus
In choosing Xavier Becerra to be his health secretary, President-elect Joe Biden tapped a robust defender of the Affordable Care Act who will face questions about whether he possesses the health care and management experience needed to lead the massive effort to vaccinate a nation against a deadly pandemic.
As Californias attorney general, Becerra leads the nations largest state justice department, an influential perch from which hes fought Republican efforts to roll back health coverage. But he has been less involved in the day-to-day work to combat the coronavirus, is not a health care expert and has not overseen an office as sprawling as the Department of Health and Human Services.
With the US expected to begin vaccine distribution in the coming months, few Cabinet posts will have such influence over the nations ability to move past the pandemic, an effort that will likely define the Biden presidency. Allies of Becerra, a former congressman who would be the first Latino HHS secretary at a time when the pandemic is taking a disproportionate toll on people of colour, say hes well suited for the role.
He has skills that sometimes are beyond expertise, said Rep. Jimmy Gomez, who represents the Los Angeles-area district near where Becerra served for some two decades. Leadership skills, management skills, an understanding how the Hill works, how the Senate works. If confirmed by the Senate, Becerra would lead a $1 trillion-plus agency with 80,000 employees and a portfolio that includes drugs and vaccines, leading-edge medical research and health insurance programs covering more than 130 million Americans. Becerra, 62, tweeted Monday that in Congress he helped pass the Affordable Care Act and as Californias attorney general he has defended it.
Biden was drawn to Becerras working-class roots, his longtime effort to increase access to health care, including in communities of colour, and his work with Republicans to expand the Affordable Care Act in California and the ability of patients to get coronavirus treatments, according to two officials familiar with his decision-making process who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly.
Becerra and the rest of Bidens health team will be unveiled on Tuesday at a moment when the president-elect is under growing pressure to ensure that his Cabinet is diverse. Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris, the nations first Black woman to serve in the post, are also set to meet with a number of civil rights groups, including the NAACP and the National Action Network, which are expected to stress the need for more Black members of the Cabinet.
And in a call organised by the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus on Monday, Asian American Democrats pressed members of the Biden transition team expand the number of those of Asian descent in leadership posts, according to a person familiar with the call who was not authorized to speak publicly about it. Only one Asian American has been nominated for the Cabinet so far: Neera Tanden, the choice to lead the Office of Management and Budget who is facing strong pushback from Republicans in the Senate.
Bidens choice of Becerra smooths, but does not end, the concerns of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus pushing for Latino representation in one of the top-four Cabinet positions. Beyond Becerra, whose mother was a Mexican immigrant, the caucus has also pressed for a role for Tom Perez, the current chair of the Democratic National Committee and former labour secretary.
Then-California Gov. Jerry Brown appointed Becerra as Californias top prosecutor in late 2016, after Harris won election to the US Senate. He instantly adopted a combative tone toward the incoming Trump administration.
If you want to take on a forward-leaning state that is prepared to defend its rights and interests, then come at us, Becerra told reporters hours after being named to the job.
Defending Californias implementation of the Affordable Care Act was a key priority, but he also focused on protecting young immigrants from deportation and defending Californias climate change laws.
Republicans immediately made clear their attack lines on the pick. Sen. John Cornyn of Texas argued that he was unqualified because he lacked ties to the health care or pharmaceutical industries while Sen. Mike Braun of Indiana blasted his support for Medicare for All. In a break with some of his previous picks, which emphasised familiarity, Biden does not know Becerra well. Nor does Becerra have deep ties to Harris; while Becerra took over her old job, he had spent most of his career in Washington while Harris was coming up through politics at home in California.
Typically, the HHS secretarys job requires political connections, communications skills, managerial savvy, a willingness to learn about complex medical issues and a creative legal mind to use vast regulatory powers without winding up on the losing end of lawsuits.
As a former 12-term congressman, Becerra will enter the job knowing Capitol Hill but will need to establish ties with governors who will play outsize roles in distributing the coronavirus vaccine.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by The Federal staff and is auto-published from a syndicated feed.)