Jan. 20 (UPI) — U.S. Senator Marco Rubio, R-Fla., officially was confirmed as the nation’s secretary of state by a 99-0 vote in the Senate.
The Senate took up Rubio’s nomination several hours after President Donald Trump was sworn in earlier Monday and made Rubio’s nomination the first high-level position filled for the Trump administration’s cabinet.
Rubio will resign from the Senate to accept the secretary of state post. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis last week said he would appoint Ashley Moody to replace Rubio if the Senate confirmed Rubio’s nomination as secretary of state.
During his Senate confirmation hearing, Rubio described the Chinese Communist Party as a “dangerous” opponent to the United States, CNN reported.
China is a “technological adversary and competitor, an industrial competitor, and economic competitor, geopolitical competitor [and] a scientific competitor,” Rubio said. “It’s an extraordinary challenge and one that I believe will define the 21st century.”
Rubio said China’s leaders took advantage of leniency provided to them by President Joe Biden and his administration and the United States now is dealing with the results of that leniency.
“Much of what we need to do to confront China is here at home,” Rubio said. “We have to rebuild out domestic industrial capacity, and we have to make sure the United States is not reliant on any single nation for any of our critical supply chains.”
Rubio also told senators it’s unrealistic to expect Russia to withdraw to re-establish the borders separating Russia and Ukraine prior to Russia’s February 2022 invasion of its neighbor.
He said the official U.S. policy should be to end the war without re-establishing the prior borders.
Rubio replaces former Secretary of State Antony Blinken.
One of the Ohio seats is vacant because of JD Vance becoming vice president. Gov. Mike DeWine has selected Lt. Gov. Jon Husted to succeed Vance.