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On May 20, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who also currently serves as acting national security advisor, national archivist, and administrator for the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), faced three hours of sometimes contentious questions from the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, a congressional panel that he used to be on but now views as quasi-adversarial.<\/p>\n
Rubio started on a jocular note, expressing his honor to testify as national archivist, before the committee chair, Sen. Jim Risch, asked him to hew to the biggest of his four jobs. \u201cOK, well, we\u2019ll focus on State today,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n
On May 20, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who also currently serves as acting national security advisor, national archivist, and administrator for the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), <\/span>faced three hours of sometimes contentious questions from the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, a congressional panel that he used to be on but now views as quasi-adversarial.<\/span><\/p>\n Rubio started on a jocular note, expressing his honor to testify as national archivist, before the committee chair, Sen. Jim Risch, asked him to hew to the biggest of his four jobs. \u201cOK, well, we\u2019ll focus on State today,\u201d he said.<\/span><\/p>\n The questions broke down predictably along party lines, with paeans of praise from Republicans and tough questions from Democrats on the committee. Rubio generally acquitted himself well, showing a thorough grasp of foreign affairs and most of the issues in his portfolio. Yet when it came to explaining how the policies he was defending fit with his previously espoused views and moral stances, he struggled.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Rubio, who was confirmed as secretary of state in a 99-0 vote, has managed to alarm former colleagues who voted for him in a few short months.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cI have to tell you directly and personally that I regret voting for you for secretary of state,\u201d <\/span>Sen. Chris Van Hollen <\/span>told him<\/span><\/a> bluntly. Rubio fired back, saying, \u201c<\/span>Your regret for voting for me confirms I\u2019m doing a good job\u201d\u2014a response Van Hollen slammed as \u201cflippant.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n Sen. Cory Booker, a former close colleague of Rubio\u2019s and a potential Democratic hopeful in 2028, repeatedly addressed him casually by his first name before correcting himself, but they had a cordial exchange.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Rubio faced critical questions from Democrats<\/span> on a number of issues: The Trump administration\u2019s preemptive surrender to Russia over its war in Ukraine, continued atrocities in Gaza and a lack of aid deliveries, the mismanaged rivalry with China, the haphazard restructuring of the State Department and gutting of USAID, the incipient or ongoing civil wars in Syria and Sudan, nuclear talks with Iran, and the resettlement of white Afrikaner farmers in the United States.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Rubio reaffirmed what is quickly hardening into a Trump administration position as talks with Iran<\/a> over that country\u2019s nuclear program stumble forward: that Iran cannot enrich uranium at all. It\u2019s a stance that could make or break any diplomatic settlement, but Rubio offered no olive branch.<\/p>\n \u201cIt is our view that they want enrichment as a deterrent,\u201d Rubio said.<\/p>\n It\u2019s clear that many of the Democrats who gave Rubio their unconditional support as Trump\u2019s first confirmed cabinet pick have second thoughts\u2014not about Rubio\u2019s qualifications, dedication, stamina, or knowledge, but about his subservience to a presidential agenda that does seem at odds, in almost every way, with the positions he championed in his own time in the Senate and on the committee.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Sen. Jacky Rosen asked Rubio about just that. How did a man who, as a senator, vigorously defended foreign aid, women\u2019s rights, and U.S.-backed international efforts to develop and deploy vaccines shift course so abruptly?<\/p>\n Rubio replied that he, and the Trump administration, are making foreign aid more streamlined and responsive, and that U.S. efforts to support vaccination work overseas continue as before. In reality, however, the withdrawal<\/a> of U.S. funding for the Gavi vaccine alliance could put millions of lives at risk.<\/p>\n Sen. Tim Kaine\u2019s questions about the decision to offer refugee status to white South African farmers can stand in for the rest of the session. Kaine asked why the United States offered protected status to prosperous white farmers, whose farms are ostensibly under attack even though the South African agriculture minister is an Afrikaner, while denying any refugee program, ever, for black Africans.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cThere are a lot of sad stories,\u201d Rubio said. \u201cThere are millions of people around the world, and they can\u2019t all come here.\u201d White farmers, he said, were a \u201csubset\u201d of people that were easier to vet for admittance into the United States. <\/span><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n This post is part of FP\u2019s ongoing coverage of the Trump administration<\/i>. <\/i>Follow along here<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n