Becerra Takes HHS Lead Role Facing Obamacare Partisan Rancor

Xavier Becerra will become the public face of the administration’s health agenda after the White House and fellow Democrats spent two months putting President Joe Biden’s stamp on the nation’s pandemic response without him.

The Senate confirmed Becerra as Health and Human Services Secretary on a 50-49 vote Thursday.

Becerra joins the HHS less than a week after Biden signed legislation to expand the Affordable Care Act for the first time, and now those provisions are largely up to the health agency to implement.

Meanwhile, the White House has held almost-daily briefings with key members of the Covid-19 response team. ...