HHS Pick Has Big Consequences For Religious Liberty
Xavier Becerra, a 25 year member of Congress and most recently The Attorney General of California, filling in as the replacement for Harris's vacated seat she left to go to the U.S. Senate, is Biden's pick for Secretary of HHS. Who is this guy and what do we know about him? As a member of Congress he fought against the tax exempt status for charitable foundations. He claimed that this was a 32 billion dollar loss to federal tax coffers, that could have been used for the "public good," in other words progressive causes, that he and others of the same ilk, think is appropriate. The IRS has identified 29 different types of organizations that can qualify for this deduction covering a wide variety of organizations, from soup kitchens, religious organizations to fine arts, athletics and medical research. The premise behind the current IRS law, is that these 29 different organizations do provide for the "public good." We don't need Becerra to define "public good."
As Attorney General, Becerra took over a notable case left by Harris, Planned Parenthood vs David Daleiden. Daldien's undercover investigation exposed the selling of fetal body parts and tissues as well as the intentional altering of procedures in order to harvest what was in demand by purveyors. Harris authorized the SWAT raid on Daldien's home, Becerra picked up the baton by charging him with 15 felonies. In 2017 Becerra filed suit against The Little Sisters of the Poor trying to strip them of their religious conscience exemption, to not provide birth control and abortifacients in their healthcare package to their employees. The exemption was granted by the HHS under the Trump administration. In 2020 the Supreme Court ruled in favor of the Little Sisters after a protracted legal battle. In 2018 Becerra defended the California FACT Act, which required pregnancy care centers to post information to expectant mothers on how to obtain an abortion. Pro-Life advocates argued that the law violated their right to free speech. Becerra argued for a "professional speech," which the state could regulate. Reaching the Supreme Court, the Court ruled against California's law. Justice Kennedy remarked, that history shows "how relentless authoritarian regimes are in their attempts to stifle free speech." Last April Becerra led a group of 22 state attorney generals in challenging a Mississippi law prohibiting abortions after 15 weeks.
So there you have it we will have an activist lawyer, a champion for abortion and a advocate for government control of free speech as head of HHS. What damage will he do? We will just have to wait and see.