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Florida Sen. Marco Rubio The Senate unanimously confirmed him as the next secretary of state, making him the first of President Trump’s cabinet picks to receive congressional approval.
Rubio, a senator since 2011, was confirmed during a floor vote Senate Monday night, hours after Trump was sworn in earlier in the day. The full Senate vote followed a separate vote by the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, which also voted unanimously in favor of Rubio’s nomination on Monday.
Rubio is entering his role as secretary of state with a bang foreign policy past as a longtime member of the Senate Foreign Relations and Intelligence Committees. He is also a first generation Cuban American.
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Marco Rubio at President Donald Trump’s inauguration ceremony on Monday, before his confirmation vote in the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and later in the full Senate.
His path to confirmation was less controversial than many of Trump’s other 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 thought Rubio had the “skills” and was “well qualified” to serve as the next secretary of state. She repeated that opinion on Monday evening before the full vote in the Senate.
“I have had a good working relationship with Senator Rubio for many years and during his hearing I was very impressed with his understanding of politics,” Shaheen said Monday night. “While we may not always agree, I believe he has the skills, knowledge and qualifications to be secretary of state.”
Rubio said during his first hearing last week that under Trump, the State Department’s “top priority” will be to put America first.
This won’t be easy, Rubio said. “And that will be impossible without a strong and confident America engaging the world, putting our core national interests, once again, above all else.”
Rubio will face some big challenges in his new role, particularly with the ongoing Russian invasion of Ukraine and the war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza.
Hamas terrorists wave to Gazans during Sunday’s release of three Israeli hostages. (TPS-IL)
Rubio described the fighting between Ukraine and Russia as a “stalemate” that “must end” during his hearing last week, adding that Trump’s proposed peace deal would require both countries to make “concessions.” Meanwhile, despite Trump’s past criticism of the bill The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), Rubio called the alliance “very important” and insisted that Trump also supports NATO.
On Gaza, Rubio supported Israel’s actions to defend itself against Hamas, but did not indicate one way or the other whether he thought Israel’s annexation of parts of the West Bank was something he supported.
“The idea would be for there to be no conflict and for people to be able to live side by side without conflict and with the ability to pursue prosperity,” Rubio said. “Unfortunately, the conditions for that 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, on July 16, 2024. (REUTERS/Brian Snyder)
Rubio also repeatedly pointed out China during his remarks 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 global superpower status, at our expense.”
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While Rubio faced no significant opposition to his confirmation, some pro-Trump Republicans expressed disdain for Rubio’s willingness to confirm the results of the 2020 election, which Trump claimed were “stolen” from him. Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., who has been an outspoken advocate of less U.S. intervention, also questioned Rubio’s hawkish stance on U.S. intervention amid his confirmation to be secretary of state.
