POSITION: Secretary of Health and Human Services

NOMINEE:  Xavier Becerra
Born: January 26, 1958, Sacramento, CA
Family: Spouse, Carolina Reyes, 3 children
Occupation: 2017 – Present, Attorney General of California; 1993-2017, Congressman, United States House of Representatives
Education: BA in Economics from Stanford University. Juris Doctorate from Stanford Law School.

 

On Roe v. Wade and Abortion

As the California Attorney General, Xavier Becerra filed numerous lawsuits to overturn pro-life laws in Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, and Ohio.  The laws ranged from ensuring women were protected from unscrupulous abortionists to banning late-term abortions. He claims the laws are an attack on Roe v. Wade and that “No government, state or federal, has the right” to interfere with abortion.

 

On Taxpayer Funding of Abortion

Voted against efforts to halt taxpayer funding of abortions. As California Attorney General Becerra sued the federal government to restore taxpayer funds to the billion-dollar abortion-giant Planned Parenthood.

 

On Protecting Minors in Relation to Abortion

Rep. Becerra voted against H.R. 748, The Child Interstate Abortion Notification Act, protecting minors being driven across state lines for an abortion without the parent’s permission

 

On Protecting Unborn Victims of Violence

Rep. Becerra voted against H.R. 1997, The Unborn Victims of Violence Act, which sought to make it a criminal offense to harm or kill a fetus during the commission of a violent crime.

 

On Partial-Birth Abortion

Rep. Becerra voted against S. 3, banning partial-birth abortions.

 

On Conscience Protections

In Congress, Rep. Becerra voted repeatedly against efforts to protect religious and conscience protections.  As California Attorney General Becerra sued the federal government to protect California’s regulation to force churches to pay for abortions in their health care plans.  One of the complaints was from the nuns, Guadalupanas, whose province is headquartered in Los Angeles, who are consecrated Catholic women who live among the poor and needy in inner-city and rural areas. Their service includes teaching religion classes and working with destitute Spanish-speaking immigrants.

In 2019 Xavier Becerra sued the Little Sisters of the Poor, insisting the religious order should be forced to pay for contraception and abortifacients.

 

On Religious Institutions Not Being Protected by the First Amendment

Via California Family Council:

Becerra made his views on religious liberty known in response to questions from Assemblyman James Gallagher during his confirmation hearing for California Attorney General on January 10, 2017. Gallagher asked Becerra what he thought about AB 775 and another proposed bill, SB 1146, which would have forced religious universities to change their housing policies and moral behavior codes to avoid punishment.

“On religious protections, the protection for religion is for the individual,” Becerra explained.  “I think it is important to distinguish between protections that you are affording to the individual to exercise his or her religion freely, versus protections you are giving to some institution or entity who is essentially bootstrapping the first amendment protections on behalf of somebody else.”

 

On Taxpayer Funding of Human Embryonic Stem Cell Experimentation

Rep. Becerra voted for taxpayer funding of human embryonic stem cell experimentation and voted against redirecting the money to more ethical, and successful, lines of research.

 

On Human Cloning

Rep. Becerra voted in favor of human cloning and against banning the procedure.  85 percent of Americans believe human cloning is unethical.

 

On Sex-Selection Abortion

Becerra voted against H.R. 3541, the Prenatal Non-Discrimination Act (PRENDA), which would have imposed civil and criminal penalties on anyone knowingly attempting to perform a sex-selective abortion.

 

On Pregnancy Care Centers

As California Attorney General Becerra defended the California law mandating that medical pro-life pregnancy centers provide written or digital information to their patients – such as a sign in the waiting room – on how to obtain a state-funded abortion. This means that nonprofit pro-life medical clinics as well as their staff and volunteers are being forced to violate their consciences – an outright violation of their First Amendment rights.  The case, NIFLA v. Becerra, ended up in the Supreme Court and on June 26, 2018 the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in favor of free speech and pro-life pregnancy centers nationwide.

 

On Pro-Abortion Groups

Xavier Becarra received a 100% rating from abortion-giant Planned Parenthood and pro-abortion NARAL Pro-Choice America. Planned Parenthood immediately praised his nomination.

When the Center for Medical Progress uncovered baby body parts trafficking being done by Planned Parenthood and others Representative Xavier Becerra (D-Calif.) voted against a Congressional investigation into the scandal. Later, as Attorney General Becerra ignored the scandal and instead followed up on his predecessor Kamala Harris’ work by bringing fourteen felony charges against Center for Medical Progress activists for recording fourteen videos and one felony charge for conspiring to invade privacy, on March 28, 2017.  The charges were dismissed by a California Superior Court judge in June for not stating the names of those recorded and the specific dates of the recordings; the charges were refiled with the names and dates in July 2017.

 

More on Abusing Office to Target Opponents

As Attorney General of California, in addition to protecting abortion-giant Planned Parenthood, Xavier Becerra was tasked with writing ballot titles and summaries that appeared on voter information guides and ballots in both the 2018 and 2020 elections. Proponents accused Becerra multiple times of writing biased descriptions that violated the law, which requires “a true and impartial statement of the purpose” of measures. His aim was to tip the scales in favor of his political allies — namely, labor unions and the Democratic Party.

 

On Mismanagement of Taxpayer Funds

In December 2020, Xavier Becerra was faulted by state district attorneys for doing little to help stop what was described as the biggest taxpayer fraud in California’s history. Investigators said federal pandemic unemployment benefits worth $400 million to possibly over $1 billion were fraudulently obtained in the names of ineligible prisoners by criminal associates. The vast majority of this money will likely never be recovered, prosecutors said.

 

On Abusing the Pardon Power

Xavier Becerra successfully lobbied the Clinton White House on behalf of a cocaine trafficker seeking early release from prison, according to a 2002 congressional report on the Clinton-era “Pardongate” scandal.