By Patricia Zengerle
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Republican U.S. Senator Marco Rubio is expected to face friendly questioning at his Secretary of State nomination hearing on Wednesday before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, where he has served for 14 years, and go on to comfortably win confirmation by the full Senate.
A China hawk and staunch backer of Israel, the 53-year-old won Democratic support as soon as President-elect Donald Trump announced his nomination to become the top U.S. diplomat, a sharp contrast with some more controversial nominees who drew skepticism even from Trump’s own party.
The son of immigrants from Cuba, Rubio would be the first person of Hispanic origin to serve as the top U.S. diplomat. He won a reputation for bipartisanship on national security issues as a member since 2011 of both the foreign relations and Senate intelligence committees.
“I believe you have the skills and are well qualified to serve as Secretary of State,” Senator Jeanne Shaheen, the ranking Democrat on the foreign relations committee, said in her prepared opening remarks, seen by Reuters before the hearing.
Shaheen also said in the remarks that she wanted Rubio to lay out the administration’s plans for Ukraine and to hear from him on the Middle East.
Rubio is known as one of Congress’ leading advocates for strong policies to compete with China, one of the few strongly bipartisan issues in Washington.
His support for Hong Kong democracy protesters earned him Chinese sanctions in 2020, meaning he could be the first secretary of state under active Chinese travel restrictions.
China’s record on human rights, a contentious issue between the countries, has been a focus for Rubio.
Some of Trump’s other national security nominees have faced strong criticism, with even some Republicans saying they wanted more information about former Fox News host Pete Hegseth, tapped for Secretary of Defense, and former Representative Tulsi Gabbard, Trump’s choice for director of national intelligence.
VOTED AGAINST UKRAINE AID
Rubio has faced some criticism himself. Some of Trump’s core supporters saw him as too traditional and internationalist, and out of step with Trump’s more isolationist “America First” approach to government. Rubio was also one of Trump’s rivals in the race for the Republican presidential nomination in 2016.
But his views recently have aligned more closely with the party leader’s.
In April 2024, Rubio was one of 15 Republican senators to vote against a big military aid package to help Ukraine resist Russia, although he voted in favor of aid to Ukraine in May 2022. Trump has been critical of Democratic President Joe Biden’s continuing military assistance for Ukraine as it fights Russian invaders.
Rubio has said Kyiv needs to seek a negotiated settlement with Russia rather than focus on regaining all territory Moscow has taken in the last decade.
Trump’s choice of a vehement critic of Cuba’s Communist government to be top diplomat also signaled that he will continue his first-term policies of rolling back former Democratic President Barack Obama’s efforts to ease relations with the island.
On Tuesday, President Joe Biden said he would relax sanctions on Cuba, part of a broad set of steps he expects to lead to a release of political prisoners.
Rubio has strongly backed Israel. Last year, he said he would not call for a ceasefire in Gaza and believed Israel should destroy “every element” of Palestinian militant group Hamas. “These people are vicious animals,” he added.
If his hearing goes as well as expected, Rubio could become Secretary of State on Jan. 20, the day Trump is inaugurated for a second term.
(Reporting by Patricia Zengerle; Editing by Don Durfee and Deepa Babington)
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