With Joe Biden’s naming of California Attorney General Xavier Becerra as his choice to be secretary of Health and Human Services this week, there is almost sure to be a major Senate confirmation battle over the expected nominee’s positions on abortion and the Affordable Care Act.
Less than an hour after Biden made Becerra’s appointment official, Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., cited the nominee’s pro-choice record and his forcing “crisis pregnancy centers to advertise abortions.”
“I’ll be voting ‘no,’” said Cotton.
Even before Biden makes Becerra’s appointment official, the pro-life Susan B. Anthony List came out foursquare against the former congressman (1993-2017).
“Far from ‘uniting’ the country, Biden has proven yet again he is an extremist on abortion,” SBA List President Marjorie Dannenfelser told reporters. “Becerra is aggressively pro-abortion and a foe of free speech.”
Like Cotton, Dannenfelser specifically pointed out that “as attorney general of California, he continued what his predecessor Kamala Harris started by persecuting citizen journalists who exposed Planned Parenthood’s role in baby parts trafficking. Not only that, he went all the way to the Supreme Court to try to force California’s pro-life pregnancy centers to advertise and refer for abortion – a policy the Court rejected as unconstitutional.”
She also cited that “In Congress, he even voted in favor of partial-birth abortion.”
Becerra, 62, is also sure to come under fire from Senate Republicans for leading twenty states and the District of Columbia into court to save the Affordable Care Act (ACA) from legal challenges that are now before the Supreme Court.
Biden reportedly was anxious to name a prominent Latino to the HHS slot and, sources say, he turned to Becerra after New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham declined his offer of the job.
John Gizzi is chief political columnist and White House correspondent for Newsmax. For more of his reports, Go Here Now.
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