Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) will tell the Senate Foreign Relations Committee during his confirmation hearing Wednesday that, if confirmed to be secretary of state, he will work to implement President-elect Donald Trump’s America First vision.
“Placing our core national interests above all else is not isolationism,” he will say, according to his opening remarks obtained by The Associated Press. “It is the commonsense realization that a foreign policy centered on our national interest is not some outdated relic.”
“The postwar global order is not just obsolete; it is now a weapon being used against us,” Rubio adds.
He will also tell senators that Trump's decisive win gives him an "unmistakable mandate from the voters." What they want, Rubio will argue, is a "strong America" that's "engaged in the world" and "guided by a clear objective, to promote peace abroad, and security and prosperity here at home.”
The confirmation hearing begins a new chapter in the political career of the 53-year-old Florida Republican, whose relationship with Trump has evolved over the last decade. Once rivals trading schoolyard insults as they campaigned for president in 2016, the two men became close allies as Trump campaigned for another White House term last year. [...]
Rubio’s approach to foreign affairs is grounded in his years of service on the Foreign Relations committee and the Senate Intelligence panel. In his speeches and writings, he’s delivered increasingly stern warnings about growing military and economic threats to the United States, particularly from China, which he says has benefited from a “global world order” that he characterizes as obsolete.
China, Rubio will tell the committee, has “lied, cheated, hacked, and stolen their way to global superpower status, at our expense.” (AP)
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Rubio is expected to be easily confirmed and will likely be among the first Cabinet picks to be approved.
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