Washington — Today, the national grassroots conservative group Heritage Action for America announced a $600,000 campaign to oppose the confirmation of Xavier Becerra to lead the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). The campaign includes TV ads, digital ads, and a robust grassroots campaign.
“Xavier Becerra has spent his entire career fighting for socialized health care, catering to the abortion industry, and trampling on Americans’ religious freedom,” said Heritage Action Executive Director Jessica Anderson. “If confirmed, Becerra would bring his extreme agenda to HHS. Heritage Action is working to expose the radical personnel and policies being advanced by this administration, and we are urging every Senator to reject Becerra’s nomination."
The campaign will spend $400,000 on ads targeting cable television channels in the Washington, D.C. metro area in advance of Becerra’s confirmation vote in the Senate. The ads highlight Becerra’s lack of medical experience and record of left-wing policies on issues including single-payer healthcare, religious freedom, and abortion. Additionally, the campaign will spend roughly $200,000 on targeted digital ads to oppose the confirmation and raise awareness of the issues at stake.
Excerpt from TV ads:
“Health and Human Services: Biden appointed Xavier Becerra to run it. He’s not a doctor, but he helped a politically connected drug dealer get a commutation from Bill Clinton. He supports government-run health care, he even sued Catholic nuns, and Becerra would decriminalize illegal immigration. He’s a radical partisan — an activist — not a doctor. In the middle of a pandemic, the wrong appointee, the wrong time.”
The full ad spot can be found here.
Additionally, Heritage Action will issue a key vote against Becerra’s confirmation, and the vote will appear on the annual Heritage Action Senate scorecard.
Background: Xavier Becerra served from 1993 to 2017 as a Democratic member of the House of Representatives before serving as Attorney General for California. In his first term in office, Becerra introduced legislation to create a government-run health care system. In 2016, he led an effort to expand Obamacare coverage to illegal immigrants. As Attorney General, Becerra sued the Little Sisters of the Poor, a group of Catholic nuns, to force them to pay for birth control against their deeply held religious beliefs.
After Biden announced his nomination of Becerra and other extreme nominees like Neera Tanden and Alejandro Mayorkas, Heritage Action called on Senators to oppose their confirmations, and later key voted against both Mayorkas and Tanden.