Secretary of State Marco Rubio to face scrutiny in senate hearing over Trump's foreign policy

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio will testify this week before his former colleagues in the US Congress, some of whom have said they regret voting to confirm the ex-senator because he has not stood up to President Donald Trump.

The Senate voted 99-0 to confirm the Florida Republican senator as the nation’s highest diplomat on January 20, as Democrats joined Trump’s Republicans in giving the president his first permanent second-term cabinet member just hours after Trump was sworn in.

During his friendly Senate Foreign Relations Committee confirmation hearing on January 15, Rubio promised a robust foreign policy focused on American interests, echoing Trump’s “America First” approach to global affairs.

Some Democrats who backed Rubio in January have said they regret their votes, as Trump has seized more control of the federal government than any modern president, including cutting funding plans that had been approved by Congress.

Rubio will tell the Senate committee on Tuesday that the $28.5 billion budget request by the Trump administration for the 2025/26 fiscal year will allow his department to continue enacting Trump’s vision while cutting $20 billion of “duplicative, wasteful, and ideologically driven programs,” according to prepared remarks published by the State Department.

At the hearing, Rubio is likely to face tough questions about the decimation of foreign aid -Rubio was an advocate of such aid during his 14 years in the Senate - while slashing staff at the State Department and US Agency for International Development, which used to spend roughly $40 billion a year and is being folded into the State Department.

The administration is proposing a new $2.9 billion America First Opportunity Fund (A1OF) that would take on foreign aid, building on “lessons we learned from USAID,” according to the prepared remarks.

“It will allow the Department to respond rapidly to crises, engage proactively with critical partners like India and Jordan, support essential repatriation efforts, and confront strategic threats from near-peer competitors like China,” Rubio will say.

Senators are also likely to grill Rubio on Trump’s plans to unwind Syria sanctions, Rubio’s role in the administration’s immigration crackdown, the delivery of humanitarian assistance to Palestinians in Gaza and efforts to end the war in Ukraine.

He may also face some questions over Trump’s suggestions that Canada could become the 51st US state and that the United States could acquire Greenland, which have angered some close US allies.

Competition with China

US Senator Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire, the top Democrat on the foreign relations committee, said the administration’s policies had made it more difficult to compete with China, noting that Beijing is increasing its spending on diplomacy and providing humanitarian aid in areas where the United States abruptly terminated programs.

“Beijing is making the case that they are a more reliable, supportive partner than the United States,” Shaheen said in remarks prepared for the hearing.

Rubio, long known as a China hawk, will tell the committee that his State Department is confronting “China’s nefarious influence” globally.

“The era of indulging the Chinese Communist Party as it abuses trade practices to steal our technology and floods our nation with fentanyl is over,” Rubio will say.

A few Democrats, including foreign relations committee members Chris Murphy of Connecticut and Chris Van Hollen of Maryland, have said publicly their votes to confirm Rubio were a mistake.

Republicans on the other hand have praised Rubio, who has become a crucial figure in the Trump administration. He currently is secretary of state and Trump’s acting national security adviser, as well as administrator of the US Agency for International Development and the acting archivist of the United States.

Rubio is the first person since Henry Kissinger in the 1970s to hold the positions of secretary of state and national security adviser simultaneously.

“When I have a problem, I call up Marco. He gets it solved,” Trump said earlier this month.

On Tuesday, Rubio will testify before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee at 10 a.m. EDT (1400 GMT) and the Senate Appropriations Committee’s State and Foreign Operations subcommittee at 2 p.m. EDT.

On Wednesday, he is due to testify before the House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee at 10 a.m. EDT and the House Appropriations subcommittee on State, Foreign Operations and Related Programs at 2 p.m. EDT.