Rubio, who is all but guaranteed confirmation, testified Wednesday about his plans to take on American adversaries including Iran, China, and Russia.
Washington, D.C. — Donald Trump’s secretary of state pick, senator Marco Rubio (R., Fla.) testified before his colleagues on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Wednesday about his plans to take on American adversaries including Iran, China, and Russia alongside the president-elect’s national security team.
The longtime Florida senator, son of Cuban immigrants, and 2016 GOP presidential primary candidate is expected to sail through his confirmation with significant Democratic support – including from the party’s Senate whip, Dick Durbin (D., Ill.) — making him a shoo-in for the incoming cabinet as other nominees face a narrower path ahead of Trump’s swearing-in on January 20. Rubio’s purview when he takes the reins from outgoing Secretary of State Antony Blinken.
Rubio and his incoming national-security colleagues in the White House will inherit a series of challenges that have emerged on the world stage during President Joe Biden’s tenure, including an emboldened Chinese Communist Party, wars in Ukraine and Gaza, and the fallout in the Middle East that has resulted in part from the outgoing administration’s disastrous U.S. military withdrawal from Afghanistan.
During Rubio’s hearing, Israeli and Hamas negotiators announced a ceasefire deal to end the 15-month war in Gaza, underscoring the scale and complexity of ever-evolving overseas conflicts that will soon fall on the shoulders of the president-elect’s incoming national security team. Trump, who praised the ceasefire announcement on social-media statement on Wednesday, has warned that “all hell will break out in the Middle East” if Hamas does not release the hostages that are currently being held in Gaza before his swearing-in.
In his prepared remarks on Wednesday, Rubio said the Trump administration’s U.S.-centric foreign policy will focus squarely on making America safer, stronger, and more prosperous on the world stage – particularly when it comes to combating the threat of the Chinese Communist Party.
“While America too often prioritized the global order above our core national interests, other nations continue to act the way nations have always acted and always will, and what they perceive to be their best interest,” Rubio said.
The longtime China hawk called Xi Jinping’s regime “the most potent and dangerous near-peer adversary” the U.S. has ever confronted, surpassing even the Soviet Union in its threat level.
“If we stay on the road we are on right now – in less than ten years, virtually everything that matters to us in life will depend on whether China allows us to have it or not,” Rubio said in his Wednesday morning remarks. “Everything from blood pressure medicine to what movies we get to watch, and everything in between. They dominate the critical mineral industry. Even those who want more EVs – those batteries depend on China.”
There were no fireworks in Rubio’s Tuesday hearing, as even Rubio’s Democratic colleagues praised him as a qualified secretary of state nominee given his vast national security experience as a member of the Senate Foreign Relations and Intelligence Committees.
Democratic Senator Tim Kaine (D., Va.) praised Rubio for joining him in co-sponsoring legislation in 2023 that would prevent a president from unilaterally withdrawing the U.S. from NATO without congressional approval – either by a two-thirds vote in the Senate or an act of Congress.
And like many of her colleagues, Senator Jeane Shaheen (D., N.H.), the ranking Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, pressed Rubio about Trump’s pledge to end the war in the Ukraine within 24 hours of taking office.
In the aftermath of Russia’s invasion, Rubio emerged as a key ally in Ukraine’s efforts to stave off Vladimir Putin’s forces. He has adopted a more realist approach as the war has continued, recently voting against additional supplemental funding for Kyiv over concerns that the legislation did not include legislative language to secure the southern border.
“This is not going to be an easy endeavor,” Rubio said of negotiations to bring about an end to the fighting. He said there is “no way Russia takes all of Ukraine” but insisted that there must be concessions on both sides of the conflict to achieve to a ceasefire and ultimately a peace agreement.
Also on Wednesday, Rubio reiterated his support for Israel and maintained that the U.S. must be vigilant in national security threats in the Middle East. On Iran, Rubio says the regime is at its weakest point, and that their air defenses have been “badly damaged,” their “economy is in shambles.” Rubio says the U.S. national security officials must be clear-eyed that any concessions made to the Iranian regime will be used to build up their weapons systems and proxy groups in the region.
“You’ve earned yourself one of the hardest jobs in America. But after serving with you for so many years. I’m confident you are the right person. We need to take on these threats,” Senate Foreign Relations Chairman Jim Risch (R., Idaho) said at the top of the hearing.
Rubio’s decision to accept a high-profile role in the White House means that his home state Governor Ron DeSantis (R., Fla.) will tap his replacement in the U.S. Senate.
Also in the confirmation hearing hot-seat Wednesday are Pam Bondi, the former Florida attorney general whom Trump has tapped to lead the Justice Department, and former director of national intelligence John Ratcliffe, the president-elect’s pick to lead the CIA, among others.