Chairman Risch Opening Statement at Nomination Hearing for Marco Rubio to be Secretary of State

WASHINGTON - U.S. Senator Jim Risch (R-Idaho), chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, today gave the following opening remarks at a full committee nomination hearing. Witnesses included The Honorable Marco Rubio to be secretary of State.

Chairman Risch gave the following remarks:

"The Senate Foreign Relations Committee will come to order. This will be our first meeting obviously of the 119^th Congress. We want to welcome you all here - this is an interesting meeting to start.

"First of all, let me say as we open this first hearing, I'm pleased to be serving alongside my colleague Senator Shaheen. She and I have worked together over a number of years; we were governors together, came in at the same time together, and have had experience in this regard where we served on the Small Business Committee in the same roles. We are going to do our best to have hearings and work this committee on a bipartisan basis. We won't always agree, obviously, but we'll do out best to disagree civilly and let the process work as it should.

"With that let us turn to the hearing today. I want to welcome my great friend Marco Rubio to this hearing. Likewise, Marco and I go back a long way. We've worked together for a long time on issues and have found ourselves almost always in violent agreement on virtually every issue we've dealt with both here in the Foreign Relations Committee and on the Intelligence Committee.

"Unfortunately, we meet at a time when America faces threats from nearly every corner of the world. It's no secret that hostile powers - from China to Russia, from North Korea to Iran - have formed an authoritarian axis bent on weakening the United States. Sadly, the outgoing administration has frequently made ill-informed decisions that have empowered these adversaries.

"From the disastrous Afghanistan withdrawal to its desperate efforts to woo Iran, failure to deter Russian aggression, constant concessions to China and undermining support for Israel- our allies question U.S. resolve and our adversaries believe they have a free hand. Those days are over.

"China remains the most significant long-term risk to the United States. The Chinese government steals American intellectual property, floods our streets with fentanyl, and exploits our free markets for its own gain, while aggressively undermining American national security.

"China is no longer satisfied to undermine the United States on its own. Now, it helps Russia, Iran, and North Korea. Chinese support has enabled Russia to carry on its illegal war against Ukraine, and China's massive purchases of Iranian oil are a lifeline to that murderous regime's proxy wars.

"The outgoing administration's failure to push back on China's aggression means that China is challenging America everywhere, from Africa to our hemisphere in Latin America. Senator Rubio has been a strong advocate of tougher policies to counter China's aggression - particularly in Latin America.

"In the Middle East, Israel fights a multi-front war against Iran after the brutal attack on October 7th. Yet the outgoing Administration has undermined support to Israel. This has only prolonged the terrible situation in Israel and Gaza. In spite of the outgoing Administration's policies, Israel's fortitude has brought Tehran to its weakest point in decades. President Trump and Marco both know that we need to support our ally and return to a maximum pressure campaign against Iran.

"At the same time, Putin-with the support of the CCP- continues his violent assault on Ukraine. Putin has escalated this war over and over again - most recently by importing thousands of North Korean soldiers. I have said repeatedly since the beginning of the 2022 full-scale invasion - we need to help Ukraine end this war quickly and permanently.

"I am confident that if anyone can end this war, it's President Trump. And Marco is the right man to help ensure it is done in a way that guarantees security and stability for Ukraine, the U.S., and our allies, and prevents Russia from launching another war.

"Unfortunately, the threats to American interests don't end there. A genocide in Sudan. A much-needed but still uncertain regime change in Syria. Human rights abuses, human trafficking. The list of challenges facing America is long. And because of that, we must reign in and enforce accountability at the United Nations, whose agenda and wasteful practices frequently do not align with US interests.

"In Asia, it will be important to work with our allies in Japan, Korea, Taiwan and the Philippines to boost their military spending and bolster their ability to deter China. We should also work with Australia and the United Kingdom, as part of the AUKUS agreement, to develop the advanced military capabilities to counter Chinese coercion in the Indo-Pacific.

"And I hope the State Department will acknowledge the nuclear arms race our adversaries are pursuing and make the changes needed to confront this new reality.

"Further, U.S. foreign assistance is not charity. American taxpayer dollars should only be spent to advance U.S. interests, and every penny should be scrutinized to ensure it's necessity and effective in advancing those interests.

"Often enormous amounts of money are spread thinly around the world and never really accomplish goals. This also needs to stop.

"A final word on the operations of the State Department itself. The Department must refocus itself on the core mission of effective diplomacy. Every program, office, and policy at State must effectively advance U.S. foreign policy goals-not advance progressive ideology.

"The Biden Administration often undercut effective foreign policy by inserting ideological and political requirements into the fabric of personnel decisions and policy execution.

"Rather than making hires or promotions based on merit and effectiveness, the Department created new diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility (DEIA) requirements that distracted from this mission, undermined morale, and created an unfair and opaque process for promotions and performance evaluations. Fealty to progressive politics became the benchmark for success. As we look around the United States that view is diminishing very quickly amongst even large progressive cooperations.

"Adherence to these goals was assured through a rigid enforcement structure that included senior advisors for DEIA," in nearly every bureau and Soviet-style "anonymous reporting portals," where employees were encouraged to denounce colleagues who would not tow the company line.

"This must end on day one. We need a return to merit, and I know Marco will right that ship.

"Senator Rubio, this is a long laundry list of crises. You've earned yourself one of the hardest jobs in America, but after serving with you for so many years, I am confident you are the right person we need to take on these threats."

These remarks have been lightly edited for clarity. Witness testimony is available on foreign.senate.gov.

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