President-elect Joe Biden plans to nominate California Attorney General Xavier Becerra as secretary of health and human services, two sources said on Sunday, placing the Latino former congressman in a critical role battling the coronavirus pandemic.
The choice of Becerra, 62, who also had been considered a candidate for U.S. attorney general, came as Biden faced more pressure to add diversity to his Cabinet appointments, including complaints from the Congressional Hispanic Caucus about the lack of Latinos.
Becerra will lead the health agency as it struggles to handle a resurgence of the coronavirus, including record infections and a daily death toll that has exceeded 2,000 in recent days, and prepares a mammoth effort to vaccinate Americans against the virus.