Excerpts from Marco Rubio’s Senate Hearing

Republican Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida, nominated by Donald J. Trump to be the next secretary of state, was warmly welcomed by senators of both parties at his confirmation hearing on Wednesday. He has served on the Senate Foreign Relations and Intelligence Committees for years and is known as a lawmaker devoted to the details of foreign policy.

“I believe you have the skills and qualifications to serve as secretary of state,” Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, D-Hampshire, said in her opening remarks.

The apparent lack of tension in the hearing suggested that Mr. Rubio would be confirmed almost immediately.

Republican and Democratic senators agree on America’s biggest problem.

The lines of inquiry made it clear where the senators wanted Mr. Rubio and the Trump administration to focus: China, Russia, North Korea and Iran. Mr. Rubio himself pointed to those four powers – what some call “the arrow” – in the opening speech.

“They join and fund radical terrorist groups, sowing chaos and instability, then hide behind a veto at the United Nations and the threat of nuclear war,” he said. As permanent members of the UN Security Council, China and Russia have the right to veto UN resolutions.

Mr. Rubio has repeatedly singled out the Chinese Communist Party for criticism, and unlike Mr. Trump, he has offered no praise for any of the autocrats who rule those nations.

He said the administration’s official policy on Ukraine would be to try to stop the war started by Russian President Vladimir V. Putin, and that leaders in both Kiev and Moscow would have to compromise. U.S. officials say Russia has drawn its allies and partners into the war by relying on North Korea for troops and weapons, Iran for weapons and training, and China to rebuild Russia’s defense industrial base.

Rubio’s position on Israel and Gaza is firmly entrenched in the foreign policy consensus in Washington.

Mr Rubio defended Israel’s conduct in the war in Gaza, accusing Hamas of using civilians as human shields and calling the deaths of tens of thousands of Palestinians, mostly non-combatants, in Gaza “one of the terrible things about war”.

He expressed concern about threats to Israel’s security. “You cannot live with armed elements on your border who want to destroy you and empty you as a state. You just can’t,” he said.

Asked whether he believed Israel’s annexation of Palestinian territory would be against peace and security in the Middle East, Mr. Rubio did not directly answer, calling it a “very complicated issue.”

Mr. Rubio’s hearing lasted nearly two hours, the committee chairman said. Israel and Hamas have reached an agreement Initiate a temporary ceasefire and partial release of hostages in Gaza. An initial bailout and cease-fire agreement reached in November 2023 collapsed a week later.

Rubio supports US alliances despite Trump’s constant attacks.

Mr. Rubio called the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, which Mr. Trump has repeatedly criticized, “a very important alliance” and insisted that Mr. Trump is pro-NATO. But he also supported Mr Trump’s argument that a powerful NATO would require Europe to spend more on its collective defence.

According to him, the United States must choose whether to play “the main defense role or the backstop” for a self-reliant Europe.

While many of his Senate colleagues have praised him, Rubio has his detractors.

Some prominent Trump supporters still distrust Mr. Rubio. Despite Mr. Trump’s false claims of election fraud, they remember his vote to confirm the results of the 2020 election. And they see Mr. Rubio’s foreign policy record as dangerously interventionist.

Mr. Rubio has long been a hawk on national security issues, often at odds with Mr. Trump’s, even if that is common ground among centrist Republican and Democratic politicians.

In the past, Sen. Rand Paul, Republican of Kentucky, has criticized Mr. Rubio for advocating aggressive American intervention abroad. Mr. Paul has been outspoken in his push for fewer U.S. troops abroad and is skeptical that economic sanctions can have positive results.

On Wednesday, Mr. Paul asked Mr. Rubio if he saw any way to work with China rather than insisting on attacks on Beijing, and he also questioned the wisdom of many American and European politicians who have insisted on Ukraine’s admission to NATO.