11 GOP Senators: Xavier Becerra ‘Unfit’ for HHS Secretary

Eleven Senate Republicans wrote to President Joe Biden Monday, urging the 46th president to withdraw California Attorney General Xavier Becerra’s nomination to serve as the next secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS).

The Republican senators wrote that Becerra’s embrace of Medicare for All, open borders policies on immigration, and abortion, render him unfit to serve as the next HHS secretary.

Sens. Bill Hagerty (R-TN), Tom Cotton (R-AR), Marsha Blackburn (R-TN), Ted Cruz (R-TX), Steve Daines (R-MT), John Kennedy (R-LA), James Lankford (R-OK), Mike Lee (R-UT), Jim Risch (R-ID), Mike Rounds (R-SD), and Roger Wicker (R-MS) wrote to Biden:

We write to express our grave concerns regarding the nomination of California Attorney General Xavier Becerra to serve as the next Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS). Mr. Becerra’s lack of healthcare experience, enthusiasm for replacing private health insurance with government-run Medicare-for-all, and embrace of radical policies on immigration, abortion, and religious liberty, render him unfit for any position of public trust, and especially for HHS Secretary.

The GOP senators also noted that Becerra lacks experience in the healthcare field that will be necessary to combat the coronavirus.

They also emphasized that Becerra’s advocacy for single-payer health care would eliminate 160 million Americans’ private health insurance. The conservatives wrote:

Compounding our concerns over Mr. Becerra’s lack of experience is his ardent support of radical policies that will inflict great harm on millions of Americans. At a time when Americans can least afford it, Mr. Becerra enthusiastically supports eliminating the private health insurance market for 160 million Americans, only to replace it with a government takeover branded as Medicare-for-all. The resulting reimbursement cuts would devastate rural health care providers working to stay solvent during the pandemic and would be a slap in the face to the doctors, nurses and other health care workers keeping our communities healthy and safe.

This radical position is not a recent or passing fancy. As Mr. Becerra proudly told California Healthline in 2019, “I’ve been a single-payer advocate all my life.” As the coronavirus continues to wreak havoc on our nation, Mr. Becerra’s determination to strip Americans of their private health insurance isn’t just bad policy, it’s dangerous.

Meanwhile, Mr. Becerra seeks to decriminalize illegal immigration, which would extend expensive government benefits like Medicaid to anyone who illegally crosses our borders.

Read the Senate Republicans’ letter to Biden here.