GOP senators question Becerra qualifications to lead HHS, past vote against partial-birth abortion ban

Republican senators on Tuesday questioned Biden Health and Human Services nominee Xavier Becerra on his qualifications to lead the department, as well as his past vote against a partial abortion ban.

Republican North Carolina Sen. Richard Burr, ranking member of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, was first to raise concerns about the attorney general's qualifications to lead HHS, saying his "actions as attorney general for California during your tenure in Congress reveal a disregard for the value of this ingenuity." Burr criticized Becerra's regulatory actions as California AG, including his advocacy for march-in rights, in his opening statement. "These tasks will require sound policy experience," Burr said of the duties that Becerra will face as HHS secretary, comparing Becerra's experience with that of former Trump HHS Secretaries Alex Azar and Tom Price, noting that Azar "had an extensive career in the biopharmaceutical sector" and Price was a physician."