Rubio to face tough questions on Trump policies in Congress

WASHINGTON - U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio will testify this week before his former colleagues in the U.S. Congress, some of whom have said they regret voting to confirm the ex-senator because he has not stood up to President Donald Trump.

The Senate voted 99-0 to confirm the Florida Republican senator as the nations highest diplomat on January 20, as Democrats joined Trumps Republicans in giving the president his first permanent second-term cabinet member just hours after Trump was sworn in.

During his friendly Senate Foreign Relations Committee confirmation hearing on January 15, Rubio promised a robust foreign policy focused on American interests, echoing Trumps America First approach to global affairs.

Some Democrats who backed Rubio in January have said they regret their votes, as Trump has seized more control of the federal government than any modern president, including cutting funding plans that had been approved by Congress.

At the hearing, Rubio is likely to face tough questions about the decimation of foreign aid - Rubio 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 is being folded into the State Department.

Senators are also likely to grill Rubio on Trumps plans to unwind Syria sanctions, Rubios role in the administrations immigration crackdown, the delivery of humanitarian assistance to Palestinians in Gaza and efforts to end the war in Ukraine.

He may also face some questions over Trumps suggestions that Canada could become the 51st U.S. state and that the U.S. could acquire Greenland, which have angered some close U.S. allies.

COMPETITION WITH CHINA

U.S. Senator Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire, the top Democrat on the foreign relations committee, said the administrations policies had made it more difficult to compete