Biden picks Xavier Becerra to lead HHS, coronavirus response

Ricardo Alonso-Zaldivar, Michael Balsamo and Jonathan Lemire

The Associated Press

President-elect Joe Biden has picked California Attorney General Xavier Becerra to be his health secretary, putting a defender of the Affordable Care Act in a leading role to oversee his administration's coronavirus response.

Separately, Biden picked a Harvard infectious disease expert, Dr. Rochelle Walensky, to head the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. And he announced a new advisory role for Dr. Anthony Fauci, the government's top infectious disease expert.

If confirmed by the Senate, Becerra, will b...