7.12.2020 17:21
(Akt. 7.12.2020 17:30)
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Becerra fought for Obamacare from California
© APA (AFP)
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California Attorney General and Attorney General Xavier Becerra is slated to become the new Minister of Health under US President-elect Joe Biden. On Monday, Biden nominated the 62-year-old as the first Latino in US history for the most important post in the corona pandemic. The elected president also awarded a number of other top positions in the field of health.
As already announced, the renowned corona expert Anthony Fauci is to become Biden’s top Covid advisor, while the medical professor Rochelle Walensky will head the CDC health authority in the future. The Biden confidante Jeff Zients is to become the coordinator of government efforts in the fight against Corona, the medic Vivek Murthy as so-called surgeon general supreme US doctor.
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“This highly qualified and diverse team will be ready from day one to contain the Covid pandemic,” said Biden, who will take over from President Donald Trump on January 20th. His health officials should, among other things, ensure a “safe, free and fair distribution” of future corona vaccines and ensure that all US citizens have access to “affordable, high-quality health care”.
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US media had already reported on Sunday evening that Becerra should become health minister – a surprising personality. The attorney general of the most populous US state had actually been traded as a possible Justice or Homeland Security Secretary. However, Cuban-born Alejandro Mayorkas was recently nominated for the Ministry of Homeland Security.
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Biden’s cabinet will now include at least two Latinos. It is still unclear who will become Minister of Justice.
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During his time as a congressman, Becerra was a staunch advocate of the rights of Latinos and advocated the health program of then President Barack Obama (“Obamacare”). In 2016, the now 62-year-old succeeded Biden’s Vice President Kamala Harris as attorney general for California.
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At that time he was the first Latino to hold this position. During his tenure, he campaigned for the so-called DACA program to protect hundreds of thousands of young migrants before the Supreme Court. Before serving as attorney general in California, Becerra was a member of the US House of Representatives in Washington for 24 years.
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Like all ministers, Becerra has yet to be approved by the Senate. As Minister of Health, he will play a central role in the fight against the corona pandemic – and that in extremely difficult times. The virus is currently spreading rapidly in the United States, with more than 200,000 new infections being added every day. More than 14.7 million infections and 282,000 deaths have now been confirmed in the United States – by far the highest numbers in the world.
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Biden has made the fight against the pandemic one of his most pressing tasks. On Monday, the 79-year-old officially introduced virus expert Fauci as his “top medical advisor” in dealing with Corona. The head of the National Institute for Allergies and Infectious Diseases is already a member of the corona task force of the elected President Trump and is highly regarded by experts and the general public.
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Virus expert and Harvard professor Walensky will be the new head of the CDC health authority, Biden’s transition team announced on Monday. Murthy, a medical doctor, is slated to head the US Public Health Service, which provides health advice to the public. Murthy was Surgeon General from 2014 to 2017, the “Doctor of the Nation”, as the post is known colloquially.
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Becerra, California attorney general, led the efforts of several US states and the capital Washington against attempts by Republicans to overturn President Barack Obama’s health care reform in court. “Obamacare” gave around 20 million Americans new access to health insurance. Another central point of the reform is that people can no longer be denied insurance because of previous illnesses. Preserving Obamacare is a major concern of Biden, who was Vice President under Obama. During the election campaign, he promised to build on the reform as president and, for example, to cut healthcare costs for Americans.
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