Florida Sen. Marco Rubio has been unanimously confirmed by the Senate to be the next secretary of state, making him the first of President Trump’s Cabinet nominees to receive congressional confirmation.
Rubio, a senator since 2011, was confirmed during a floor vote by the full Senate Monday night, hours after Trump was sworn into office earlier in the day. The full Senate vote followed a separate vote by the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, which also unanimously voted to nominate Rubio on Monday.
Rubio enters his role as secretary of state with a strong foreign policy background as a long-time member of the Senate Foreign Relations and Intelligence Committee. He is also a first generation Cuban American.
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Marco Rubio at President Donald Trump’s inauguration on Monday, ahead of his confirmation vote by the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and later by the full Senate.
His confirmation process has been less controversial than many of Trump’s Cabinet picks. At Rubio’s first confirmation hearing last week before the Foreign Relations Committee, the committee’s top Democrat, Sen. Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire, said she thinks Rubio has the “skills” and is “well qualified” to serve as leader. the next secretary of state. He said this again on Monday evening and before the full Senate vote.
“I’ve had a great working relationship with Sen. Rubio for many years, and I was very impressed when I heard his policy,” Shaheen said Monday evening. “Even though we don’t always agree, I believe he has the skills, knowledge and qualifications to be secretary of state.”
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Rubio expressed during his first confirmation period last week that under Trump the State Department’s “highest priority” will be putting America first.
“This is not going to be easy,” Rubio said. “And it won’t happen without a strong and confident America acting in the world, putting our core national interests, again, above everything else.”
Rubio will face major challenges as he heads into his new role, particularly Russia’s ongoing invasion of Ukraine and the war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza.
Hamas terrorists raised their hand to Gazans when three Israeli hostages were freed on Sunday. (TPS-IL)
Rubio described the conflict between Ukraine and Russia as a “hard situation” that must end during his confirmation hearing last week, adding that under Trump’s proposed peace deal both countries would have to make “compromises.” Meanwhile, despite Trump’s past criticism of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), Rubio called the alliance “very important” and stressed that Trump is also a supporter of NATO.
On Gaza, Rubio supported Israel’s defensive actions against Hamas but stopped short of pointing one way or the other if he thought Israel’s annexation of parts of the West Bank was something he supported.
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“The idea would be that there would be no conflict and people could live together without conflict and the ability to pursue prosperity,” Rubio said. “Sadly and unfortunately the conditions for that to exist have not existed for a long time.”
Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL) walks on stage during Day 2 of the Republican National Convention (RNC), at the Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, US, July 16, 2024. (REUTERS/Brian Snyder)
Rubio also singled out China repeatedly when he spoke before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee last week. “We welcomed the Chinese Communist Party into this global order. And they took advantage of all of its benefits. But they ignored all of its obligations and responsibilities,” Rubio said at his hearing. “Instead, they lied, cheated, hacked and stole their way to the greatest power in the world, at our expense.”
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Although Rubio faced no significant opposition to his confirmation, some Trump-aligned Republicans expressed disdain for Rubio’s willingness to confirm the results of the 2020 election that Trump says was “stolen” from him. Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., who has been an outspoken supporter of less US intervention, also questioned Rubio’s stance as a hawk on US intervention amid his confirmation as secretary of state.
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