The political tensions over President Donald Trump’s foreign policy will be focused squarely on Secretary of State Marco Rubio Wednesday morning, when he’ll be pressed to explain the decisions of a president hell-bent on flexing U.S. muscle abroad.
Senate Democrats are beyond frustrated with the administration’s lack of responsiveness on everything from the capture of Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro to Trump’s flirtation with controlling Greenland. They’re prepared to pepper Rubio about all of this during today’s Foreign Relations Committee hearing.
“The old Marco Rubio is unrecognizable today,” Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) said. “The Rubio MAGA lobotomy is complete.”
But the former Republican senator will have plenty of backup from his one-time GOP colleagues, who’ve rebuffed Democratic efforts aimed at reining in executive power amid Trump’s military moves — real and threatened — abroad.
Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chair Jim Risch (R-Idaho) plans to applaud the Trump administration’s broader anti-narcotics work and tout the “tremendous opportunity” the United States has in Venezuela.
“After our lengthy engagements in the Middle East in years past, many Americans are concerned about so-called forever wars,” Risch will say, according to a copy of his opening remarks. “I know this administration is laser-focused on avoiding these experiences.”
What’s on tap. Democrats vowed to press Rubio on the Maduro operation, arguing that the rationale that’s justifying the deadly U.S. strikes — targeting alleged drug boats — has been undercut by subsequent events.
That issue of Venezuelan oil — and to what extent the United States could profit from it — will be a major theme for Democrats, multiple senators said.
“We need some visibility on what’s happening with this oil. This is crazy,” Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) said. “The American people need to understand who’s making money off of that and why Congress isn’t involved.”
This is likely going to be the only chance Democrats have for a while to grill Rubio in a public setting about Venezuela — and every other axe they have to grind with the Trump administration over its global posture.
Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (N.H.), the committee’s top Democrat, plans to ask whether the Maduro raid was “worth it,” while lamenting broader Trump administration cuts to foreign aid and rhetoric that is “pushing allies away.”
“From Venezuela to Europe, the United States is spending more, risking more and achieving less,” Shaheen will tell Rubio, according to her prepared remarks.
