WASHINGTON — “Ex-zavey-err Becerra,” an elementary school teacher called out in 1960s Sacramento.
It wasn’t the pronunciation that Xavier Becerra a future U.S. Health and Human Services secretary, was expecting as a kid growing up in the shadow of California’s Capitol with three sisters and parents who spoke Spanish. More than a half-century later, it is how Becerra can usually determine when in his life he met a particular person — during his K-12 education or later.
Becerra is the first Latino HHS secretary, one of just 17 Hispanic cabinet secretaries in all of U.S. history. The mammoth agency, with a nearly $2.7 trillion budget for 2023, oversees a portfolio that includes the social safety net, Medicare and Medicaid, cutting edge pharmaceuticals and pandemic response.
