Florida Sin. Marco Rubio He was unanimously confirmed by the Senate to be the next Secretary of State, making him the first Secretary of State chosen by President Trump to receive congressional approval.
Rubio, a senator since 2011, was confirmed during a vote by the full Senate. Senate Monday night, several hours after Trump was sworn in earlier in the day. The full Senate vote came after a separate vote by the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, which also voted unanimously in favor of Rubio's nomination on Monday.
Rubio enters his position as Secretary of State with force Foreign policy His background is 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 on Monday, before his confirmation vote by the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and then by 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 ranking Democrat, Sen. Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire, said she believed Rubio had the “skills” and was “well qualified” to serve as the official representative. The next foreign minister. She echoed that sentiment Monday evening as well before the full Senate vote.
“I have had a good working relationship with Senator Rubio for many years, and I was very impressed during the hearing by his understanding of policy,” Shaheen said Monday evening. He added, “Although we may not always agree, I believe he has the necessary skills, knowledge and qualifications to be Minister of Foreign Affairs.”
Rubio expressed during his initial confirmation hearing last week that the State Department's “top priority” under Trump would be putting America first.
“This is not going to be easy,” Rubio said. “It will be impossible without a strong, confident America that engages in the world and puts our core national interests, once again, above all else.”
Rubio will face some major challenges before assuming his new position, most notably the ongoing Russian invasion of Ukraine and the war between the two countries. Israel And Hamas in Gaza.
Hamas gunmen wave to Gazans during the release of three Israeli hostages on Sunday. (TPS-IL)
Rubio called the fighting between Ukraine and Russia a “stalemate” that “must end” during his confirmation hearing last week, adding that under Trump's proposed peace deal, the two countries would have to make “compromises.” Meanwhile, despite Trump's previous criticism of… North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), Rubio called the alliance “very important” and insisted that Trump was also a supporter of NATO.
Regarding Gaza, Rubio supported Israel's actions to defend itself against Hamas, but stopped short of indicating one way or the other if he believed Israel's annexation of parts of the West Bank was something he supported.
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“The idea is that there will be no conflict and that people will be able to live side by side with each other without conflict and still be able to achieve prosperity,” Rubio said. “It is regrettable and regrettable that the conditions necessary to achieve this have not been in place for a long period of time.”
Senator Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) walks on stage during day two of the Republican National Convention (RNC), at Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, US, July 16, 2024. (Reuters/Brian Snyder)
Rubio has also been referenced repeatedly China During his statements before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee last week. “We welcomed the Chinese Communist Party into this world order. They took advantage of all of its benefits. But they ignored all of its obligations and responsibilities,” Rubio said at the hearing. Instead, they lied, cheated, hacked, and stole their way to global superpower status, at our expense.”
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While Rubio did not face significant opposition to his confirmation, some Trump-aligned Republicans have expressed disdain for Rubio's willingness to certify the 2020 election results that Trump claimed were “stolen” from him. Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., who has been an outspoken supporter of reducing U.S. intervention, also questioned Rubio's hardline stance on U.S. intervention amid his confirmation as secretary of state.
