Partyline vote on nominee
Conservative groups have organized against Becerra more than many of President Biden’s Cabinet nominees, criticizing his positions on abortion and legal cases they characterize as issues of religious freedom.
Other Republicans said Becerra didn’t have enough experience on health care policy, which Democrats countered by pointing to his 24 years in the House working on health care legislation and numerous cases as attorney general dealing with the Affordable Care Act and health issues.
“Being HHS secretary should not be a learn-on the job position, and I’m afraid that Mr. Becerra would be very dependent upon advisers,” said Sen. Bill Cassidy, RLa., a physician. “Mr. Becerra’s very bright, he’s very well meaning, he’s very smart. I will cooperate with him and work with him, but we shouldn’t have the pretense that this person has the qualifications of someone with a different background.”
Democrats said Becerra is no stranger to managing large bureaucracies, noting that the California Justice Department is the largest such agency in the nation outside of the federal Justice Department.
“If there’s an effort to paint the attorney general as some kind of inexperienced radical, it’s just not backed up by what the committee saw last week,” said panel Chair Ron Wyden, DOre.
Although Democrats could confirm Becerra without any Republican help, he had positive exchanges during hearings before another committee with GOP Sens. Susan Collins of Maine and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska.
Asked about the tie vote in the Finance Committee on Wednesday, White House press secretary Jen Psaki noted that Cassidy himself predicted Becerra has enough votes to be confirmed.
“We certainly understood from the beginning that every nominee would not receive 93 votes,” Psaki said. “But we remain confident and confidently behind the nomination.”