Marco Rubio breezes through Senate confirmation, becomes first Latino secretary of State
WASHINGTON – Sen. Marco Rubio became the first member of President Donald Trump’s Cabinet to be approved by the Senate, overwhelmingly winning confirmation hours after the executive branch changed hands.
Senators confirmed Rubio by a vote of 99-0 on Monday evening.
His confirmation clears the way for the administration to immediately set to work implementing a foreign policy agenda that Trump says will put America’s national interests first, relying on protectionist tools such as tariffs to get other countries to modify their behavior.
Rubio, the son of Cuban immigrants, will be the first Latino secretary of State. He brings more than a decade of experience to the position, having served on the Foreign Relations and Intelligence committees for 14 years. He competed against Trump for the Republican nomination for president in the 2016 race.
Decrying what he described as a “dangerous” shift toward a liberal world order that had harmed U.S. national security, Rubio told senators at his confirmation hearing: “Under President Trump, the top priority of the United States Department of State, will be the United States.”
Trump, he said, would place the “interests of America and Americans above all else” to make sure the country is positioned to protect its allies and itself.
“It's the commonsense understanding that while we remain the wealthiest and the most powerful nation on the Earth, our wealth has never been unlimited, and our power has never been infinite, and placing our core national interests above all that was said, is not isolationism,” Rubio said. “It is the common sense realization that… a foreign policy centered on our national interest is not some outdated relic.”
As of early Monday evening, Rubio was the only Trump nominee who’d won confirmation. None of the others had gone before the full Senate for a vote.
Rubio was unanimously recommended for the role by the Foreign Relations Committee on Monday afternoon ahead of Monday's full Senate vote.
"We are glad to have worked in a bipartisan way to ensure that one of our own, Senator Marco Rubio, could be positioned to quickly take the helm of the State Department," the committee's chair, Sen. Jim Risch, R-Idaho, and ranking member, Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H., said in a joint statement.
"The national security of the United States is this committee’s primary focus – and it is to the benefit of our country to have steady leadership in place as soon as possible."
Trump’s team had sought to rush through national security hires but was slowed by missing paperwork and got a late start on submitting background check documents for its nominees to the FBI.
Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said in remarks from the Senate floor that Democrats would not rubber stamp Trump's agenda or automatically oppose nominees they believe deserve serious consideration.
"Sen. Rubio is an example of a qualified nominee we think should be confirmed quickly," he said. "While I certainly do not agree with many of Sen. Rubio's positions, in this instance, it is important for the new administration to have a Senate-confirmed secretary of State as soon as possible, so I'll vote yes."
Rubio is expected to start work at the State Department on Tuesday.
"I'll miss being here, I'll miss the relationships, but it's an important job at an important time, and I'm honored by it," Rubio told reporters after the Senate vote.
His staff will be a mix of Trump political appointees, current and former longtime aides to his Senate office and career officials with specific areas of expertise who serve in government regardless of who’s in power.
Rubio becomes explainer-in-chief of Trump’s foreign policy
As the nation’s chief diplomat, it will fall on Rubio to implement Trump’s executive actions and articulate the philosophy behind the former businessman’s tactics to make America’s allies cough up cash. Rubio has signaled he plans to use his position to weaken China and Russia and unite Middle Eastern countries against Iran.
He stated at his confirmation hearing that China “is the most potent and dangerous near-peer adversary this nation has ever confronted. They have elements that the Soviet Union never possessed.”
“What cannot be allowed under any circumstances,” he said at another point, “is an Iran and an Iranian regime that has the resources and the capability to restart and continue their sponsorship of terrorism.”
On thorny issues, Rubio stressed that Trump would dictate the policies while offering hints at the direction the Republicans would go.
Rubio told lawmakers it should be the United States’ position that the Russia-Ukraine war ends, which he said would require concessions from both sides.
“Now what that masterplan looks like is going to be hard work,” he said. “My hope is that it can begin with some ceasefire.”
He also suggested the U.S. rethink its approach to NATO.
Rubio said, “There is a question to be asked” about whether the U.S. should be in a primary defense posture in the security organization or act as a “backstop” for aggression against the coalition, while countries closer to Russia contribute the most to the military alliance.
At the hearing, Virginia Sen. Tim Kaine, a Democrat who worked with Rubio on legislation that made it impossible for Trump to pull out of NATO unilaterally, said he was pleased by the appointment.
“He has a very well-developed sense of the world and a passion and interest in all corners of it,” Kaine said. “He's not talking out of a briefing book. He's not having to thumb through a binder to decide how to answer a particular question.”
Appearing on conservative commentator Ben Shapiro’s podcast last month, Trump national security adviser Michael Waltz said that while other diplomats have been pulled into urgent crises in the Middle East, Asia and Europe, Rubio will also be focused on Latin America.
Waltz described Rubio as a "a rare leader that's really invested in the relationships down there" throughout his career and "understands the complex dynamic, is going to spend the time on it."
Contributing: Savannah Kuchar
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Rubio becomes first Trump Cabinet nominee to win Senate confirmation