Biden To Nominate Anti-2A, Pro-Abortion Extremist Xavier Becerra For HHS Secretary

Biden To Nominate Anti-2A, Pro-Abortion Extremist Xavier Becerra For HHS Secretary

Former vice president Joe Biden’s calls for “unity” in the wake of the still unresolved 2020 presidential election are being met with growing skepticism due to his decidedly divisive staffing and cabinet picks.

For example, it is difficult to imagine a more polarizing pick for Health and Human Services Secretary than current California Attorney General Xavier Becerra, yet Biden is reportedly set to announce this pick on Monday or Tuesday.

Becerra is about as anti-civil libertarian as they come.  He is an enthusiastic gun-grabber whose anti-Second Amendment crusade is outshone perhaps only by his avid pro-abortion legal activism.  In pursuit of these twin efforts, Becerra has repeatedly demonstrated that he has no compunction about restricting free speech to the point of eviscerating the First Amendment, including its protections for religious freedom.

The Federalist reports:

Democrat Joe Biden plans to nominate California Attorney General Xavier Becerra as secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services, as first reported by The New York Times Sunday night. Biden is expected to formally announce the pick on Monday or Tuesday.

Becerra served in Congress for 24 years, where he voted against a ban on partial-birth abortion, voted against making it a crime to hurt an unborn child during another crime, and voted for taxpayer-funded abortions. After being appointed California attorney general, he carried on the work Sen. Kamala Harris started in prosecuting undercover journalist and pro-life activist David Daleiden on behalf of Planned Parenthood. In 2017, Becerra charged Daleiden with 15 felonies, marking the first time any person in the state has been criminally prosecuted for allegedly violating California’s video recording law.

In 2018, Becerra represented both the pro-abortion and anti-free speech side of the Supreme Court case, NIFLA v. Becerra, in which justices ruled in a 5-4 decision that California can’t force crisis-pregnancy centers to post signs about state-sponsored abortion services.

Becerra’s record:

❌ continued persecution (started by predecessor Kamala Harris) of citizen journalists who exposed Planned Parenthood’s role in baby parts trafficking

❌ tried to force pro-life pregnancy centers to refer for abortion

❌ voted for partial birth abortion
(2/3)

— Susan B. Anthony List #StopBecerra (@SBAList) December 7, 2020

The Federalist continues:

Becerra’s nomination to HHS chief also means he would be able to continue his war on nuns. Despite winning at the Supreme Court in 2016 over a provision in the Affordable Care Act that would force the Catholic organization to offer contraception in health-care plans to celibate nuns, and that the mandate ignores that some forms of contraception act as abortifacients, the Little Sisters of the Poor are still in court thanks to Becerra and the state of California. They are suing in federal court to remove the nuns’ religious exemption.

. . . . “Far from ‘uniting’ the country, Biden has proven yet again he is an extremist on abortion,” said Marjorie Dannenfelser, president of the pro-life group SBA List. “Becerra is aggressively pro-abortion and a foe of free speech. As attorney general of California, he continued what his predecessor Kamala Harris started by persecuting citizen journalists who exposed Planned Parenthood’s role in baby parts trafficking.”

Republicans are pushing back:

Xavier Becerra spent his career attacking pro-life Americans and tried to force crisis pregnancy centers to advertise abortions.

He’s been a disaster in California and he is unqualified to lead HHS.

I’ll be voting no, and Becerra should be rejected by the Senate. https://t.co/mEvpMrqPeH

— Tom Cotton (@SenTomCotton) December 7, 2020

ADF had to go all the way to the Supreme Court to stop Becerra from forcing religious pro-life pregnancy centers to advertise for abortions. He is an extremist who has no regard for conscience or protecting life. There’s nothing moderate about this pick. Nothing. https://t.co/4dD3npBO5v

— Kristen Waggoner (@KWaggonerADF) December 7, 2020

Biden’s choice of Xavier Becerra as HHS Secretary shows the abject lie of the “moderate” Biden and sets up a fight the Republicans in the Senate had better not lose. Conservatives in Georgia—are you paying attention? All eyes are on you. Voter registration ends Monday!

— Albert Mohler (@albertmohler) December 7, 2020

Furthermore, Becerra supports Medicare for All, the healthcare plan of socialist Sen. Bernie Sanders that was rejected by even Democrat primary voters.

BREAKING: Biden's HHS pick backed Medicare for All & pressed Obama to take action against pharmaceutical companies – now he will be in a position to grant states Medicare for All waivers and to take that action against Big Pharma that he said he supports https://t.co/ZN2m3UqWl1

— David Sirota (@davidsirota) December 7, 2020

In addition to his extremist views and actions on abortion, free speech, and religious freedom, Becerra is a noted champion of killing California’s gig economy and is also a true believer in “environmental justice.” In his role as California Attorney General, Becerra established the first of its kind “Environmental Justice Bureau.”

The New York Times reports (archive link):

Opposing the airport expansion plan is the work of the environmental justice bureau Mr. Becerra created in 2018, the first of its kind. Its focus: the unequal effect pollution and other forms of environmental damage have on health in the most vulnerable communities. While local officials, understandably, want to promote economic development, the bureau created by Mr. Becerra is saying that environmental justice needs to be part of the equation.

“If we’re concerned about environmental degradation, we should be concerned about the people who are hit first and worst,” Mr. Becerra said in an interview.

Concern over the environment and climate change has long been a part of the character of the Golden State. Its leaders have worked to limit auto emissions — despite efforts by the Trump administration to curb its ability to do so — and the state is calling for a transition from internal combustion engines to electric for cars and trucks in coming years.

As part of his environmental justice war on civilization and jobs, Becerra sued the Trump administration over its reversal of Obama-era restrictions on coal-burning power plants.

As if all of this is not bad enough, Becerra’s ongoing attacks on the Second Amendment rights of Californians would be extended to those of every American. After all, the radical left insists that guns are a public health issue.

Among his myriad anti-Second Amendment lawsuits, Becerra is perhaps best known to LI readers for his on-going attempt to institute background checks on ammunition.

• Federal Court Strikes Down California Law Requiring Ammunition Purchase Background Checks
• 9th Circuit Grants ‘Administrative Stay’ of Injunction Against California Ammunition Background Check Law

You may also recall Becerra’s involvement in the following: Los Angeles DA’s Husband Charged For Pointing Gun At BLM Protesters At His Doorstep.

Beccera’s attempts to disarm Californians includes “gun violence restraining orders” and a series of ‘firearms operations’ that were spurred by ammo background checks.

The gun violence restraining orders are related to ‘intimate partner violence,’ which includes “physical violence, sexual violence, stalking, or psychological harm,” and are described as follows (archive link):

Gun Violence Restraining Orders: An emergency gun violence restraining order can be requested by a law enforcement officer and generally lasts for up to 21 days. During the COVID-19 statewide emergency, all gun violence orders issued or set to expire can be extended up to 90 days to allow the matter to be heard by the court. The subject of the restraining order is prohibited from possessing or buying a gun or ammunition and must give up any guns or ammunition they possess. During the period that an emergency order is effective, you or a law enforcement officer may request a hearing for a longer-term order. A judge may issue a gun violence restraining order that lasts up to a year. You can also begin the process by submitting forms to a court.

The aforementioned ‘firearms operations’ were raids conducted against “individuals who were convicted of a felony or violent misdemeanor, were placed under a domestic violence or other restraining order, or suffer from serious mental illness” and took place in May, 2020 (archive link):

California Attorney General Xavier Becerra today announced 12 operations throughout the state where special agents with the California Department of Justice seized dozens of firearms, tens of thousands of rounds of ammunition, ghost guns, assault weapons, and drugs over the last month. In all of the operations, investigators obtained critical information as a result of ammunition background checks.

Since actual criminals don’t purchase their weapons (or their ammo) legally (thus avoiding background checks), it seems clear that Becerra’s goal, like that of his gun-grabbing fellow travelers, is to disarm law-abiding citizens.

Should Biden be installed as president, he will take office under extraordinary circumstances.  Not only do fewer than half of voters believe he actually won the 2020 presidential election, but Democrats took a serious shellacking down ballot, barely hanging on to a House majority with Republicans picking up every single “toss up” seat and not managing to flip a single statehouse chamber.

Even Biden knows that his chirping about “winning a mandate” is utter nonsense . . . happy talk, wishful thinking, total malarkey.  Or he should.  Picks like Beccera for HHS Secretary suggest that he might be making the disastrous mistake of believing his own press.

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