4 takeaways from Xavier Becerra’s confirmation hearings

Republican and Democratic senators grilled Becerra on Tuesday and Wednesday on how the Biden administration will work to bring down the cost of insurance coverage, prescription drugs, and medical tests and procedures. Though he offered few specifics, the questioning signaled a major shift from past battles over how to get more people insured.

Becerra demurred when Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) asked him whether he preferred a bipartisan Senate drug pricing bill from the previous Congress that would penalize drugmakers that increase prices higher than inflation or a more progressive approach that would involve the government directly negotiating the cost of certain drugs.

But Becerra in other exchanges with senators suggested that his cost-cutting efforts could include a continuation of…