The vote was 50 to 49. Susan Collins, a Maine GOP senator, joined the Senate Democrats in favor of the nomination. Hawaii Democratic Senator Mazie Hirono did not vote.
During the confirmation process, Becerra highlighted his education, his father’s recent passing, and his efforts to expand access to health care as the Attorney General of California and a 24-year-old congressman representing a Los Angeles district.
The vast majority of Senate Republicans opposed Becerra’s nomination over his support for abortion rights and his lack of a background as a health worker.
Senate leader Majority Chuck Schumer praised Becerra’s experience and voiced Republican arguments against him, saying they were “almost ridiculous.”
“They complain loudly that he has no direct experience as a medical professional,” he said. ‘Although the Republicans voted decisively to install Alex Azar, a pharmaceutical manager, who raised the price of medicine and tried to undermine our country’s health legislation as the former HHS secretary.
“I understand the enormous challenges we face and our serious responsibility to be loyal managers of an agency that touches on almost every aspect of our lives,” Becerra said during a nomination hearing in February.
The former California Attorney General was a major defender of the Affordable Care Act in court. While the Trump administration joined a coalition of Republican Attorneys General to invalidate the rural health reform law, Becerra led a group of Democratic attorneys general and argued why the law remains valid. The issue was whether the reduction of the fine for the fact that the health insurance was not to zero, made the individual mandate unconstitutional and dropped the whole law.
Becerra is also an outspoken advocate for women’s health, the rights of undocumented immigrants and for Medicare for All.
Of the 23 cabinet posts to be considered by the Senate, 20 have now been confirmed.
CNN’s Jasmine Wright and Tami Luhby contributed to this report.