Senate committee Republicans closed ranks in opposition against Biden’s HHS secretary, Xavier Beccerra (photo, left), holding up his confirmation. For bad reasons.
With equal numbers of Democrats and Republicans on the committee, the vote tied at 14-14, and it’s now up to the parties’ Senate leaders to figure out how to proceed. If a floor vote on Beccerra’s nomination was similarly along party lines, Vice President Harris could cast a tiebreaker vote in Beccerra’s favor.
Biden picked Beccerra, a lawyer, to run HHS because as he staunchly defended Obamacare as California attorney general. Republicans cited his lack of health care experience, but their real beef is that he challenged the Trump administration’s granting of religious waivers from Obamacare mandates to provide contraception coverage.
Trump’s first HHS secretary, Tom Price, a Georgia congressman, is a doctor but was forced out within a few months for junketing at taxpayer expense. The replacement, Alex Azar, was a drug company executive who, like Beccerra, is a lawyer. Azar was an opponent of Obamacare and abortion, and was criticized for his handling of the HHS response to Covid-19. To his credit, when he resigned ahead of the incoming administration, as is customary for cabinet secretaries, he urged Trump to promote a peaceful and orderly transition — which, of course, fell on deaf ears.
Read story here. Read about the Price scandal here, and Azar’s HHS tenure here.