Rubio: U.S. not withdrawing from world
Secretary of state faces questions from Congress
By; Patricia Zengerle
Daphbe Psaledakis
and Simon Lewis
Reuters
WASHINGTON - U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio on May 20 [2025] insisted that the Trump administraiton was not withdrawing form the world as he batted away criticism of its cuts to foreign aid and diplomatic budget from his former colleagues in Congress, some of whom regret voting to confirm him, because he has not stood up to President Donald Trump.
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In a sometimes feisty first testimony as the country's top diplomat, Rubio was challenged over his role in the administration's crackdown on immigrant, Trump's engagement with Russian President Viadimir Putin and the decision to prioritize the resettlement in the Unites States of white South Africans over refugees form elsewhere.
..... Addressing the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Rubio said the intent of changes he is overseeing was "not to dismantle American foreign policy, and it is not to withdraw us form the world," citing his travel since taking office in January. [2025]
..... "I just hit 18 countries in 18 weeks," Rubio said. "That doesn't sound like much of a withdrawal."
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Trump's administration has blocked mostly non-White refugee admissions from the rest of the world but has begun to resettle Afrikanrs, the descendants of mostly Dutch settlers in South Africa, saying they face discrimination and even genocide. South Africa's government denies the allegation of genocide.
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"While you've turned away from a genocide in Sudan and invented one in South Africa, you've teamed up with President Trump to throw the Ukrainian people under the bus, and have been played like a fiddle by Vladimir Putin," Senator Chris Van Hollen, D-Maryland, said in a blistering critique of Rubio's about-face on many issue he embraced as a senator.
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"You use to speak with conviction about the importance of foreign aid as a tool to advance American values and interests. Then you stood by wile Elon Musk took chainsaw to UUSAID and other assistance programs," Van Hollen said, adding that he regretted his vote for Rubio's nomination.
..... "First of all, your regret for voting for me confirms I'm doing a good job," Rubio retorted, before the hearing devolved into a shouting exchange, something unusual for a committee long known for bipartisanship.
..... On Russia, Rubio said Putin had not received any real concessions in the U.S. effort to initiate talks to end the war in Ukraine and Russia sanctions remain in place.
Aid cuts
..... Rubio told the committee that the $28.5 billion budget request by the Trump administration for the 2025-2026 fiscal year will allow his department to continue enacting Trump's vision while cutting $20 billion of "duplicative, wasteful, and ideologically driven programs."
.... Rubio faced though questions about the decimation of foreign aid - he was an advocate of such aid during his 14 years in the Senate - while slashing staff at the State department and U.S. Agency for International Development, which used to spend roughly $40 billion a years and is being folded into the State Department.
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Rubio said that many of the programs he has cut did not serve U.S. interests and that Washington would remain the world's most generous donor of humanitarian aid.
..... The administration is proposing a new $2.9 billion American First Opportunity Fund that would take on foreign aid, building on "lessons we learned from USAID," Rubio said.
..... Senators also asked Rubio about 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.
..... Rubio said the current U.S. assessment is that the Syrian government is precarious, given its wide range of challenges. he said the State Department would allow staff in turkey, including the ambassador there, to work with local officials in Syria to determine what kind of aid they need.
..... "It is our assessment that, frankly, the transitional authority, given the challenges they're facing, is maybe weeks, not many months, away from potential collapse and a full-scale civil war of epic proportions, basically the country splitting up," he said.
..... A few protesters interrupted Rubio's testimony with shouts of "stop the genocide," before police bundled them out of the hearing room. Protesters have been regularly interrupting congressional hearings during Israel's war in Gaza.
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Rubio welcomed Israel's decision to let in some humanitarian aid after a week-long blockage and said he sees Israel's actions in Gaza as targeting Hamas militants.
..... Washington had asked other countries in the region if they would be open to accepting Palestinians form Gaza who want to move voluntary, Rubio said, although he denied protects there were talks for Libya to take in refugees from Gaza.
Multiple roles
..... Republicans have praised Rubio, who has become a crucial figure in the Trump administration.
..... In addition to state secretary, he is also serving as Trump's acting national security adviser, the USAID administrator, and the acting archivist of the United States. Rubio is the first persons since Henry Kissinger in the 1970s to hold the secretary of state and national security adviser positions simultaneously.
..... "When I have a problem, I call up Marco. He gets it solved," Trump said earlier this month. [05/2025]
Rubio acknowledged his many roles to the committee, joking that he was pleased to be appearing on behalf of the National Archives.
..... After his testimony to the Senate Foreign Realizations Committee, Rubio was scheduled to speak to the Senate approbations Committee's State and Foreign Operations subcommittee.
.... On May 21, [2025] he is due to testify before the House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee and the House Appropriations Committee's State, Foreign Operations and Related Programs subcommittee.