Conservative Action Project

February 22, 2021
Washington, DC

Conservatives oppose the confirmation of Xavier Becerra to lead the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).

No federal agency has more influence over policies relating to the sanctity of life, human dignity, and religious liberty than HHS. Becerra has a troubling record on all of these fronts. He is an extremist nominee who will carry the agendas of liberal dark money groups to his administration post if confirmed.

As a former Member of Congress, Becerra voted against a ban on partial-birth abortion, against making it a crime to hurt an unborn child during the perpetration of another crime, and against efforts to bar minors from being driven across state lines for an abortion without parental consent. He has consistently voted in favor of taxpayer-funded abortions.

Later, as California’s attorney general, he repeatedly prosecuted journalist and pro-life activist David Daleiden on behalf of Planned Parenthood. Becerra led lawsuits against the Trump administration, calling it a “gag order” when an HHS rule was revised to bar federally funded contraceptive clinics and doctors from encouraging abortion or providing abortion referrals. Even after losing the case, Becerra vowed to “continue to fight for comprehensive reproductive healthcare, including safe and legal abortion.”

Becerra also spent years using the courts to torment an order of Catholic nuns, the Little Sisters of the Poor, to try and force them to pay for abortifacients against their religious faith. He carried out similar measures in California, where he sued the federal government to protect a California regulation forcing churches to pay for abortions in their health care plans.

Such actions are consistent with Becerra’s distorted view of religious liberty, which he has stated he believes is “for the individual,” and that organizations or institutions staking a claim to religious liberty is “bootstrapping the First Amendment.” Becerra’s advocated for one-sided restrictions prohibiting churches from meeting indoors, while grocery and liquor stores remained open. The Supreme Court struck down these restrictions in December.

Becerra has also displayed dubious judgment. As Attorney General of California, he was accused multiple times of using his office to tip the scales in favor of Planned Parenthood and other political allies. In 2020, the state district attorneys faulted him for failing to do more to stop a massive fraud in California’s unemployment benefits.

Becerra also focused on “environmental justice” as California’s Attorney General, filing dozens of lawsuits opposing the Trump administration’s de-regulatory agenda regarding climate and energy. In California, he created an environmental justice bureau – not to focus on the state’s environmental concerns, but to focus the “unequal” effect pollution and environmental damage on certain vulnerable communities. President Biden has indicated that each executive agency will focus on climate regardless of statutory remit, and Becerra is thus likely to engage an aggressive climate agenda outside of the purview of HHS.

Becerra has shown neither the judgment, character, or respect for human life necessary to lead the agency with such influence over the foundational rights of all Americans. Under his watch, we believe HHS – an agency that should protect human life, dignity, and enshrine the values of religious liberty – would be weaponized toward partisan and destructive ends.

For all these reasons, we urge the Senate to firmly reject his confirmation.


The Honorable Edwin Meese III
Attorney General
President Ronald Reagan (1985-1988)
Alfred S. Regnery
Chairman, Conservative Action Project
President, Republic Book Publishers
Tom McClusky
President
March for Life Action
The Honorable Morton C. Blackwell
President
The Leadership Institute
The Honorable J. Kenneth Blackwell
Chairman
Constitutional Congress, Inc.
The Honorable David McIntosh
President
Club for Growth
Scott T. Parkinson
VP for Government Affairs
Club for Growth
Kelly J. Shackelford, Esq.
Chairman, CNP Action, Inc.
President and CEO, First Liberty Institute
L. Brent Bozell, III
Founder and President
Media Research Center
Jenny Beth Martin
Chairman
Tea Party Patriots Citizen Fund
The Honorable Jim DeMint
Chairman, Conservative Partnership Institute
Member, US Senate (SC 2005-2013)
Ed Corrigan
Vice Chairman, Conservative Action Project
President & CEO, Conservative Partnership Institute
Rachel Bovard
Senior Director of Policy
Conservative Partnership Institute (CPI)
Myron Ebell
Director, Center for Energy and Environment
Competitive Enterprise Institute
William L. Walton
President
Council for National Policy
The Honorable T. Kenneth Cribb, Jr.
Chief Domestic Advisor
President Ronald Reagan (1987-1988)
Penny Y. Nance
President & CEO
Concerned Women for America
Lisa B. Nelson
The Honorable Tony Perkins
President
Family Research Council
Lt. Gen. William G. Boykin (Ret.)
Executive Vice President
Family Research Council
Daniel Schneider
Executive Director
American Conservative Union
Floyd Brown
Chairman
Western Center for Journalism
Alan E. Sears
Founder
Alliance Defending Freedom
The Honorable George K. Rasley Jr.
Managing Editor
ConservativeHQ.com
Justin Danhof
General Counsel
National Center for Public Policy Research
Anne Schlafly Cori
Chairman
Eagle Forum
David N. Bossie
President
Citizens United
Dr. Richard Lee
President and CEO
There’s Hope America
The Honorable Gary L. Bauer
President
American Values
Mike Davis
Founder and President
Article III Project (A3P)
Nancy Schulze
Founder, President
RCW Speakers
Kent Glesener
President & CEO
Paradigm Construction & Engineering, Inc.
Christie Glesener
President
Shofar International Foundation
Craig Shirley
Reagan Biographer
Presidential Historian
Steve Berger
Founding Pastor
Grace Chapel
Don Woodsmall
Principal
Arromid, LLC
Eaton Hopkins
President
Liberty Surgical
Seton Motley
President
Less Government
Gary Marx
President
The Concord Fund
C. Preston Noell III
President
Tradition, Family, Property, Inc.
Twila Brase, RN, PHN
President and Co-founder
Citizens’ Council for Health Freedom
Jay Mount
President
MDS Communications Corporation
Chad Connelly
President
Faith Wins
The Honorable Peter J. Thomas
Chairman
The Conservative Caucus
William W. Pascoe, III
Board Member
Tea Party Patriots Action
Judson Phillips
Founder
Tea Party Nation
Jack Park
Conservative Activist and Donor
Law Offices of Jack Park
Elaine Donnelly
President
Center for Military Readiness
The Honorable Mike Hill
Former Member
Florida State House
Mario Navarro da Costa
Director, Washington Bureau
Tradition, Family, Property
David Haas
President
Morrison Inc.
Saulius “Saul” Anuzis
President
60 Plus Association
James L. Martin
Founder/Chairman
60 Plus Association
Andresen Blom
President
Hawaiian Values
Amapola Hansberger
Founder and President
Legal Immigrants for America
Kay R. Daly
President
Coalition for a Fair Judiciary
Ron Pearson
Executive Director
Conservative Victory Fund
Joan Holt Lindsey
President
Lindsey Communications
Paul Gessing
President
Rio Grande Foundation
Wade Kirby
Director of Development
GSWA
Dr. Richard Rounsavelle
Trustee
MRC
Penna Dexter
Co-host
Point of View Radio
Tim Throckmorton
President
Lifepointe Ministries
Curt Levey
President
Committee for Justice
Ashley Baker
Director of Public Policy
Committee for Justice

All organizations listed for IDENTIFICATION purposes only.