Manchin, Collins to vote for Becerra as Biden's HHS secretary after conservatives try to sink nomination
Fox News
Sens. Joe Manchin and Susan Collins said Thursday they plan to vote for Xavier Becerra to serve as President Biden’s Health and Human Services secretary, likely delivering the new administration another Cabinet member.
"While Attorney General Xavier Becerra and I have very different records on issues like abortion and the Second Amendment, he has affirmed to me his dedication to working with members on both sides of the aisle to address the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic and the numerous needs of our nation in a bipartisan way," Manchin, a moderate Democrat, said in a statement. Becerra, now California's attorney general, has drawn fire from Republicans for his record on abortion rights, guns and immigration, as well as his support for Medicare-for-all. Conservative groups have spent hundreds of thousands on ad buys in Arizona and West Virginia, Manchin's home state, trying to pressure moderate Democrats to not support Becerra.
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