Rubio Faces Friendly Colleagues for Post of Top US Diplomat (1)

The top Republican and Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee joined in praising Marco Rubio at the Florida senator’s nomination hearing for secretary of state, signaling he’ll face one of the easiest confirmations of President-elect Donald Trump’s cabinet.

“You’ve earned yourself one of the hardest jobs out there, but after serving with you for so many years, I am confident you are the right person we need to take on the threats we face,” Senator James Risch of Idaho, the panel’s Republican chairman, told Rubio at the hearing Wednesday.

Rubio, who was long a member of the committee that’s now examining his nomination, is expected to face little opposition in his confirmation process. He’s one of the most conventional of Trump’s cabinet picks, which includes more controversial nominees such as former Fox News host Pete Hegseth for defense secretary.

Senator Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire, the top Democrat on the Foreign Relations panel, told Rubio he’s “well-qualified to serve as secretary of state.” But she expressed concern about “the message that abandoning Ukraine would send not just to our allies but also to our adversaries.” Rubio has long supported Ukraine’s fight against Russia’s invasion, but Trump has pledged to bring the war to a rapid conclusion.

Endorsing Trump’s approach, Rubio testified that what Russian President Vladimir Putin has done in Ukraine is “unacceptable,” but “it should be the official position of the United States that his war should be brought to an end,” starting with a cease-fire.

Confronting China

In Rubio’s opening statement, he said China “has repressed and lied and cheated and hacked and stolen their way to global superpower status.”

Under questioning, Rubio suggested the Trump administration should consider using US liquefied natural gas shipments to China, and to third countries that might ship it on to China, as “leverage as we engage the Chinese.”

He also warned that the US may have to deal with Chinese action against Taiwan “before the end of this decade” unless “something dramatic changes, like an equilibrium where they conclude that the costs of intervening in Taiwan are too high.

Rubio pledged to reorient US foreign policy toward making America stronger and safer. His comments hinted that he might slash or pare back State Department funding for various programs around the world — from human rights to cultural projects. If confirmed, Rubio said he would reexamine projects to ensure “every dollar we spend, every program we fund” works to make America safer, stronger and more prosperous.

He said he wants “highly capable” subordinates at the State Department but that they should also be “aligned in mission” with the new administration’s goals.

In response to questions from committee members, Rubio criticized the International Criminal Court for going after Israel’s prime minister and former defense minister. He asked how any state could “coexist side by side with a group of savages like Hamas” and warned that the court’s arrest warrants were a “test run for applying it to American service members and American leaders in the future.”

Competing Voices

Despite the senators’ support for Rubio, there are questions about how much influence he’d wield as the incoming administration’s top US diplomat.

Trump is already being advised by billionaires such as Elon Musk, who has goaded UK and German leaders, and appointed a raft of friends and advisers as special envoys to oversee some of Washington’s most important foreign policy priorities — including the Ukraine-Russia war and the Middle East.

Rubio downplayed the issue, saying he’s worked with most of the envoys and that they’d work for the president in coordination with the State Department.

Read More: Rubio’s Authority as Top US Diplomat Challenged by Trump Envoys

Rubio, who made a presidential run and clashed with Trump during the Republican primaries in 2016, said in his prepared remarks that America’s wealth is not “unlimited” and its power is not “infinite,” but that “placing our core national interests above all else is not isolationism.”

(Updates with comments on China, other issues starting in seventh paragraph)

To contact the reporters on this story:
Iain Marlow in Washington at imarlow1@bloomberg.net;
Courtney McBride in Washington at cmcbride47@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story:
Nick Wadhams at nwadhams@bloomberg.net

Larry Liebert

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