McConnell Unloads On Biden’s ‘Radical And Underqualified’ HHS Nominee Xavier Becerra

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell slammed President Joe Biden’s pick to lead the Department of Health and Human Services, Xavier Becerra, saying that Becerra’s “chief passion” is “using the force of government to attack Americans’ religious liberty and freedom of conscience.”

“Amid a global pandemic, the president has made a puzzling selection for this critical post: The famously partisan Attorney General of California,” McConnell said. “Mr. Becerra has no particular experience or expertise in health. His chief passion project in California seemed to be using the force of government to attack Americans’ religious liberty and freedom of conscience.”

“In 2017, the department he’s nominated to lead finally provided a religious exemption to a controversial Obamacare mandate,” he said. “Mr. Becerra led the lawsuit to challenge it. He used his taxpayer-funded office to sue Catholic nuns who didn’t want government forcing them to violate their beliefs.”

McConnell also hit Becerra for his “position in favor of government-compelled speech” and noted that the federal government had to hold Becerra and the state of California “in violation of conscience protections that are written into federal law.

WATCH:

TRANSCRIPT:

Today, our colleagues on the HELP Committee will question Xavier Becerra, President Biden’s nominee to run the Department of Health and Human Services.

Amid a global pandemic, the president has made a puzzling selection for this critical post: The famously partisan Attorney General of California.

Mr. Becerra has no particular experience or expertise in health. His chief passion project in California seemed to be using the force of government to attack Americans’ religious liberty and freedom of conscience.

In 2017, the department he’s nominated to lead finally provided a religious exemption to a controversial Obamacare mandate.

Mr. Becerra led the lawsuit to challenge it. He used his taxpayer-funded office to sue Catholic nuns who didn’t want government forcing them to violate their beliefs.

This is a pattern with Mr. Becerra. When a California law forcing pro-life crisis pregnancy centers to advertise abortion was challenged in court, Mr. Becerra defended it to the bitter end.

His absurd position in favor of government-compelled speech was slapped down by the Supreme Court. Over the last two years, the HHS Office of Civil Rights literally had to hold California and Mr. Becerra in violation of conscience protections that are written into federal law.

His zealous refusal to respect his citizens’ legal rights positioned his state to potentially forfeit hundreds of millions of dollars in HHS funding. That’s how committed they were to these violations. And now the fox wants to guard the henhouse?

We will review Mr. Becerra’s testimony today. But I am hard-pressed to see any way such a radical and underqualified nominee should fill such a critical post at this crucial time.

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