Published: 7:50am, 21 Jan 2025Updated: 8:00am, 21 Jan 2025
A Senate committee on Monday unanimously confirmed Marco Rubio as US secretary of state, giving US President Donald Trump the first member of his Cabinet.
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The Senate Foreign Relations Committee – of which Rubio, a senator from Florida, has been a member – had voted unanimously to approve his nomination, sending it to the full Senate.
The quick vote stands in contrast to Trump’s more controversial nominees who either await contested votes or, in some cases, have not yet had confirmation hearings.
“We are glad to have worked in a bipartisan way to ensure that one of our own, Senator Marco Rubio, could be positioned to quickly take the helm of the State Department,” the committee’s Republican chairman, Jim Risch, and its top Democrat, Jeanne Shaheen, said in a joint statement.
“The national security of the United States is this committee’s primary focus – and it is to the benefit of our country to have steady leadership in place as soon as possible,” they said.
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“We believe that Senator Rubio has the skills, knowledge and experience to lead the department.”