{"id":33031,"date":"2021-03-18T22:12:31","date_gmt":"2021-03-19T05:12:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/?p=33031"},"modified":"2021-03-18T22:12:31","modified_gmt":"2021-03-19T05:12:31","slug":"senate-confirms-becerra-in-tight-vote-with-just-one-gop-defection-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/?p=33031","title":{"rendered":"Senate confirms Becerra in tight vote with just one GOP defection"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The Senate on Thursday narrowly confirmed\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/click1.email.thehill.com\/zbrdvgzjfrrkcgcrkbsffkddfzkqrzrttlfjgwqrrpmdwz_lnnmjjgkgrmnmnmzhdqq.html?a=&amp;b=37695\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" data-saferedirecturl=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/url?q=https:\/\/click1.email.thehill.com\/zbrdvgzjfrrkcgcrkbsffkddfzkqrzrttlfjgwqrrpmdwz_lnnmjjgkgrmnmnmzhdqq.html?a%3D%26b%3D37695&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1616196262156000&amp;usg=AFQjCNHNMd6q5PP0vn0z5R-Rbgel4BzMkw\">Xavier Becerra<\/a>\u00a0as secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) by a 50-49 vote.<\/p>\n<p>Republicans were nearly unanimous in their opposition to Becerra, the current attorney general of California. Sen.\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/click1.email.thehill.com\/tbwjsdwfpllktdtlkbvppkjjpwkrlwlggcpfdmrllhzjml_lnnmjjgkgrmnmnmzhdqq.html?a=&amp;b=37695\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" data-saferedirecturl=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/url?q=https:\/\/click1.email.thehill.com\/tbwjsdwfpllktdtlkbvppkjjpwkrlwlggcpfdmrllhzjml_lnnmjjgkgrmnmnmzhdqq.html?a%3D%26b%3D37695&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1616196262156000&amp;usg=AFQjCNEt5-CxG0sOoHHB6R3TqPWw6qtevA\">Susan Collins<\/a>\u00a0(Maine) was the only Republican to vote in favor of his confirmation.<\/p>\n<p>Collins previously cited Becerra&#8217;s commitment to rural health care, and a shared goal of lowering drug prices, among her reasons for supporting him.<\/p>\n<p>Becerra was attacked for his views on abortion and past support for &#8220;Medicare for All,&#8221; with conservatives accusing him of being a liberal extremist with no experience in health care.<\/p>\n<p>Becerra will take the helm of the health agency nearly two months into\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/click1.email.thehill.com\/bfzbvsdkzppynsnpyjgzzybbzdympdpttqzkscmppflbcl_lnnmjjgkgrmnmnmzhdqq.html?a=&amp;b=37695\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" data-saferedirecturl=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/url?q=https:\/\/click1.email.thehill.com\/bfzbvsdkzppynsnpyjgzzybbzdympdpttqzkscmppflbcl_lnnmjjgkgrmnmnmzhdqq.html?a%3D%26b%3D37695&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1616196262156000&amp;usg=AFQjCNEFDO30qUAO88OV1uOgGV2RnJ5Jww\">President Biden<\/a>&#8216;s administration, with the nation still in the middle of a deadly pandemic. Democrats have warned that the delay in confirming Becerra will hamper the country\u2019s pandemic response.<\/p>\n<p>Becerra will play a major role in the government&#8217;s COVID-19 response, but he will also need to guide the massive bureaucracy through a host of other challenges, including the influx of migrants at the border. HHS is responsible for housing and caring for the thousands of detained migrant children.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Senate on Thursday narrowly confirmed\u00a0Xavier&#46;&#46;&#46;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-33031","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-u-s-a"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33031","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=33031"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33031\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":33032,"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33031\/revisions\/33032"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=33031"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=33031"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=33031"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}