A group of conservatives is blasting President Joe Biden’s nominee for secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services, Xavier Becerra, calling him as “an extremist” partial to liberal “agendas.”
A scathing memo signed by high-profile conservatives and posted on the Conservative Action Project website was expected to be sent to GOP members of Congress and other conservative groups, Fox News reported.
"Conservatives oppose the confirmation of Xavier Becerra to lead the Department of Health and Human Services," the memo said. "No federal agency has more influence over policies relating to the sanctity of life, human dignity, and religious liberty than HHS."
"Becerra has a troubling record on all of these fronts," it said. "He is an extremist nominee who will carry the agendas of liberal dark money groups to his administration post if confirmed."
Among the signers are former director of the Office of Management and Budget Russ Vought, former acting deputy secretary of the Department of Homeland Security Ken Cuccinelli, former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, and former Secretary of Energy under the Reagan administration Donald Paul Hodel.
The memo slams Becerra for his voting record in Congress "against a ban on partial-birth abortion, against making it a crime to hurt an unborn child during the perpetration of another crime, and against efforts to bar minors from being driven across state lines for an abortion without parental consent."
"He has consistently voted in favor of taxpayer-funded abortions," the statement added.
And it also criticized him for allegedly using the courts “to torment an order of Catholic nuns, the Little Sisters of the Poor, to try and force them to pay for abortions against their religious faith."
"Such actions are consistent with Becerra’s distorted view of religious liberty, which he has stated he believes is 'for the individual,' and that organizations or institutions staking a claim to religious liberty is 'bootstrapping the First Amendment,'" the memo said.
"Becerra has shown neither the judgment, character, or respect for human life necessary to lead the agency with such influence over the foundational rights of all Americans," the memo declares. "Under his watch, we believe HHS — an agency that should protect human life, dignity, and enshrine the values of religious liberty — would be weaponized toward partisan and destructive ends."
During Becerra's tenure as California attorney general, he sued the Trump administration more than 100 times, Fox News reported.
© 2025 Newsmax. All rights reserved.