Senate Democrats on Tuesday used hearings with Secretary of State Marco Rubio to unleash criticism of the Trump administration’s pivot toward Russia, selective refugee admissions, deportation of student activists and gutting of U.S. soft-power programs.
The hearing, nominally to discuss Trump’s 2026 foreign funding request, provided the first public opportunity for Senate Democrats, and some Republicans, to directly confront their former senate colleague since unanimously confirming him five months ago.
“I have to tell you directly and personally that I regret voting for you for Secretary of State,” said Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), during one of the more tense exchanges with the former Florida Senator.
“Your regret for voting for me confirms that I’m doing a good job,” Rubio retorted.
“We deported gang members, gang members including the one you had a margarita with,” Rubio said, referencing an attempt by El Salvador’s president to frame Van Hollen’s meeting with a man mistakenly deported to the country as chat over tropical drinks.
Van Hollen later posted on the social media site X that Rubio had a “a full MAGA lobotomy.”
“The Marco Rubio who testified today is not the one I served with in the Senate,” he posted.
Rubio holds the distinction of being the only Trump cabinet member to receive unanimous confirmation from the Senate, but Rubio’s positions as a senator – supportive of foreign assistance, respect for allies, critical of human rights abusers and despots – have often been discordant with his actions as secretary.
“I’m going to embrace my Jewish-mother instincts for a moment,” Sen. Jacky Rosen (D-Nev.) began, “I’m not even mad anymore about your complicity in this administration’s destruction of U.S. global leadership. I’m simply disappointed.”
Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.) also had a fiery exchange with Rubio, criticizing the Trump administration’s decision to grant refugee status to a group of white South Africans, or Afrikaners, while freezing refugee admissions for all other groups. These include victims of genocide such as Uyghurs in China and Rohingya in Burma; those facing political persecution, like dissidents in Cuba, Venezuela and Nicaragua; or America’s Afghan allies and Afghan women who face persecution under the Taliban.
“This administration has said Afrikaners get an easy pass and refugee programs for the remainder of the world are shut off,” Kaine said. “And you can’t say to the American public that we should apply this statute in an even-handed way, I’m shocked at that.”
“It should be applied on the national interest of the United States,” Rubio pushed back.
Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.), ranking member of the foreign relations panel and a member of the appropriations committee, said Trump was allowing Russian President Vladimir Putin to continue the war without pressuring him to make any concessions for peace.
“I think we should try and end this war, I’m just questioning his [Trump’s] tactics and whether he’s really being successful.”
Other Democrats appealed to their friendships with the secretary.
“Marco, I mean Mr. Secretary, you and I have been friends for a very long time, a sense of urgency is what I’m asking for right now,” Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.) pleaded when asking about ensuring distribution of food aid in some of the most desperate places on the African continent.
One of the most glaring issues for Democrats, and some Republicans, was the cuts to foreign assistance through the destruction of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) at the hands of the so-called Department of Government Efficiency, overseen by tech billionaire Elon Musk.
“What has been hardest for me is the suddenness, sharpness and consequences of the way DOGE came in and just tore up USAID,” said Sen. Chris Coons (D-Del.), who questioned Rubio twice on Tuesday – on both the Foreign Relations panel and the Senate Appropriations subcommittee responsible for funding the State Department.
“You must have heard across both hearings today, many, if not most of the Democrats, and Republicans, saying you could have achieved significant reform in a legal, fair and appropriate way,” Coons told The Hill after the hearings.
Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine), chair of the Appropriations Committee, was one of the few Republican voices raising concern to Trump’s proposed budget cuts, specifically 60 percent cuts to global health programs and termination of grants for GAVI, the global vaccine alliance.
Rubio pushed back that the administration is still interested in funding vaccine distribution globally but was working to identify “alternatives” to multilateral organizations traditionally utilized.
Sen. Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii), who also serves on both panels, scolded Rubio for failing to engage with Democrats on reforming foreign assistance and instead “lighting the room on fire.”
“I think we have two objectives right now, minimize suffering and reputational damage, that’s one line of effort and the other is, how do we get back to the regular order where we can do a bill together?” Schatz asked.
The hearings were meant to give lawmakers a chance to question Rubio over Trump’s budget request for foreign operations, to include the State Department and other issues, which came in at a level 48 percent below the 2025 budget.
Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), who often talks a tightrope between promoting America’s engagement in the world and supporting Trump’s “America First” approach, suggested that topline figure was merely a starting point for considerations.
“In terms of the budget, this is 48 percent below the enacted level,” he said, chuckling a little in apparent disbelief.
“Presidential budgets are given some consideration and this will get some consideration,” he added with a laugh.
“Bottom line, I think there is space to save money in this account, and I look forward to finding a way to do that. I think Secretary Rubio is the right guy at the right time.”