Congress
Marco Rubio left the Senate. But he’s still part of the club.
As senators woke up Saturday with questions on President Donald Trump’s audacious decision to order the capture of Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro, one of their old colleagues was ready with answers.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio worked the phones in the wee hours of the morning and, in the days since, has played an outsize role in not only formulating the administration’s strategy in Venezuela but explaining it to skeptical lawmakers wary of a protracted military commitment.
That outreach has been to his former Republican colleagues as well as Democrats, including those who see him as a rare Trump official with whom they can maintain a trusted and respectful relationship amid profound policy disputes.
“Although I may disagree with him on a day-to-day or hour-to-hour basis … he has shown extraordinary competence,” Sen. Dick Durbin of Illinois, the No. 2 Democratic leader, said in an interview. “I voted for him in this position; I still have confidence in his abilities.”
Others said they respected his particular expertise on issues in Latin America while also raising doubts about the strategy for Venezuela he is laying out in public and in private briefings — which for now involves propping up interim president Delcy Rodriguez as a de facto U.S. puppet.
“You can talk to Marco about — ‘Tell us about Delcy.’ … He knows all of that, and he can give you a sense of who they are and what they’re up to,” said Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.), a former colleague on the Foreign Relations Committee.
Kaine complimented Rubio for putting a renewed focus on the Americas, while quickly adding that Trump’s self-proclaimed “Donroe doctrine” is the “wrong kind of attention.”
Rubio returned to his old stomping groups Wednesday as part of a delegation of senior Trump officials who briefed lawmakers on the weekend military operation. There his status as a figure of special consequence who has taken on increasingly significant roles in the administration was on display.
“He’s the one in the center — he’s the one that starts it, no notes,” Sen. John Barrasso (R-Wyo.), the No. 2 GOP leader, said in an interview describing the briefing. “To me, he’s a mature, experienced, reliable voice as secretary of State, and — specifically for this part of the world — he knows the issues, he knows the people, and that brings a lot.”
Also on display was Rubio’s membership in the rarefied club of senators and former senators.
He hugged and briefly huddled with Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer in view of dozens of reporters. A grinning Rubio came up to cameras afterward and joked to reporters, “I’m against everything he said.”
Schumer, who like most Democrats has been a persistent critic of the administration, offered no praise for Rubio but stopped short this week of disavowing his previous support for Rubio’s nomination as secretary. Asked Tuesday if he regretted his vote, the New York Democrat said he was “deeply, deeply disappointed in Marco Rubio even before Venezuela and even more so now.”
Rubio took in stride the criticism from Schumer and other Democrats that he and other Trump administration officials have not fully thought through their strategy.
“I used to be a senator, too — that’s what you always say when it’s the other party,” he told reporters Wednesday. “The bottom line is, we’ve gone into great detail with them about the planning.”
The Senate voted 99-0 hours after Trump’s Jan. 20 swearing-in to confirm Rubio — the only nominee who got through on Day 1.
At the time Democrats praised Rubio as a qualified foreign policy hand. They believed he shared some of their views and would work with them on key global matters such as helping Ukraine defeat Russia and strengthening the NATO alliance.
But since then, Rubio has rankled his former Democratic colleagues at times as he worked with Trump to upend America’s foreign aid infrastructure and back the president’s often erratic policy priorities — ranging from his attempts to force a peace deal in Ukraine to his ongoing push to take over Greenland.
Those tensions have at times spilled out into the public.
Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) told Rubio during a committee hearing last year, “I have to tell you directly and personally that I regret voting for you for secretary of State.” Sen. Jacky Rosen (D-Nev.) said at the same hearing that she found “Senator Rubio to be a bipartisan pragmatic partner” but “I don’t recognize Secretary Rubio.”
That said, lines of communication have stayed open. Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.), who worked closely with Rubio on the Intelligence Committee, bristled this week at the administration’s decision not to notify top congressional leaders about the Venezuela operation in advance. But he credited Rubio for reaching out soon after.
“My phone had been hacked a few months back, and I had a new number,” Warner said. “So he did try to reach me, but it was after the strikes had started.”
Rubio did manage to reach many of his former Republican colleagues — including Sen. Mike Lee of Utah, with whom he had sometimes clashed over national security issues when they served together.
As news of the U.S. raid began to trickle out, Lee posted to X shortly after 3 a.m. with a skeptical note: “I look forward to learning what, if anything, might constitutionally justify this action in the absence of a declaration of war or authorization for the use of military force.”
Less than two hours later, Lee posted again, saying he had spoken to Rubio: “This action likely falls within the president’s inherent authority under Article II of the Constitution to protect U.S. personnel from an actual or imminent attack. Thank you, @SecRubio, for keeping me apprised.”
Rubio also reached out to Senate Majority Leader John Thune and Speaker Mike Johnson soon after the operation launched, as well as chairs and members of key committees.
“He is a gift to America right now,” Johnson said Wednesday.
“All members are comfortable with him — certainly those that served with him, which is just about everyone here,” Barrasso said. He added that Rubio was confirmed unanimously “because people knew him and respected him.”
Democrats who worked with him in the Senate had a more nuanced assessment as they emerged Wednesday from their closed-door briefing with the Trump officials. They raised deep concerns over the administration’s strategy for Venezuela, but they also said they were in no way surprised by Rubio’s role in developing and promoting it given his long opposition to dictatorships in the region.
“Marco has been evangelical on Latin America for a long time, for a long time — I mean, he’s, you know, a pretty classic neocon who believes that America will generally be greeted as liberators,” said Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.), another former Foreign Relations colleague. “I didn’t vote for him because I thought he was going to suddenly agree with me on the importance of military restraint overseas.”
Added Kaine, “At the end of the day, he’s going to do what Trump tells him to do.”
Meredith Lee Hill and Daniella Cheslow contributed to this report.
House Speaker Mike Johsnon said he plans to send President Donald Trump a bipartisan housing bill Monday, just days after the president abruptly canceled a signing ceremony for the legislation after Congress failed to pass his elections security act.
Speaking with Fox News’ “Sunday Morning Futures,” Johnson said the 21st Century ROAD To Housing Act is a Republican priority for lowering costs for Americans.
“I’m going to send the bill over to him on Monday, and it will become law,” the Louisiana Republican told host Maria Bartiromo. “I certainly want him to take the biggest, boldest marker that he has and do that big Trump signature proudly on that legislation because we’re delivering for the people, and that’s what he wants to do.”
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Johnson’s remarks.
The bill is the product of almost a year of back-and-forth between all four congressional corners and aims to increase affordability by boosting housing supply and home ownership. It passed both chambers of Congress with wide bipartisan support.
Trump was scheduled to sign the bill into law last week but canceled the ceremony “until such time as we pass the desperately needed SAVE AMERICA ACT, which I consider to be a National Emergency.”
Trump’s SAVE America Act would require voters to present a photo ID at the ballot box and effectively end mail-in voting. Trump has also said he would like the bill to include prohibitions on transgender athletes competing. But Republican leaders have repeatedly indicated the legislation does not have enough votes to pass.
Congressional leaders appeared taken aback by Trump’s signing cancellation, but Johnson on Sunday said he and the president have since met in the Oval Office to discuss the housing bill “in great detail.”
“We made a lot of promises to the voters, and we’re fulfilling those every single day of this Congress,” Johnson said. “This is a big part of that because this will increase the availability, the access to more housing, bring down cost, cut regulations, do the things we know are very important for that market. The president and I talked about that at length. Of course he wants to do those things.”
But if Trump does not sign the housing bill into law within the next few days, it would still become law unless he were to veto it. Congress also has the power to override a presidential veto.
Sen. Thom Tillis on Sunday expressed frustration with President Donald Trump’s continued fixation on passing the SAVE America Act.
In an interview with BLN’s “Face the Nation,” the retiring North Carolina Republican lamented “the impossible task” of implementing the requirements of the legislation ahead of November’s crucial midterms.
“Why are we doing more things to undermine our confidence in elections, rather than getting the strong message out that will win for Republicans this year?” Tillis said.
Rather than promoting the bill — which would require voters to present a photo ID at the ballot box and effectively end widespread mail-in voting — Tillis said Republicans should tell voters about “the rise of the Democratic Socialists of America” while accepting the current voting laws.
“Win by the good results that Republicans have produced and stop undermining the confidence in the elections,” said Tillis. “This is a bedrock of our 250-year history of success as the democracy that changed the world. Let’s not mess with that between now and November.”
Trump has said the SAVE America Act is his “No. 1 priority” ahead of midterms, going so far as to abruptly cancel a bill signing for major bipartisan legislation on housing affordability until Congress passes his elections bill. But many Democrats are staunchly against the bill, arguing it could disenfranchise millions of voters, and Republican leaders in Congress have repeatedly indicated it does not have the votes to pass.
Tillis co-sponsored the original SAVE America Act but has objected to Trump’s version of the legislation, which would also bar transgender athletes from women’s sports.
It’s not the first time Tillis has clashed with Trump.
Earlier this year, Tillis blocked Trump’s Fed chair nominee, Kevin Warsh, until the Justice Department dropped an investigation into Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell. He has also spoken out against the Justice Department’s $1.776 billion “Anti-Weaponization Fund,” calling it a “payout for punks.” And he has emerged as a fierce critic of Bill Pulte, Trump’s interim director of national intelligence.
“Let’s try and figure out a way to completely and finally end these distractions so that we can focus on the damage Democrats could do if they take the House, if they beat incumbent Republicans in the Senate. That’s what Republicans need to be talking about between now and November,” Tillis said Sunday.
Sen. Bill Cassidy appeared to question President Donald Trump’s view of Congress, saying in an interview that he is not sure Trump grasps that Congress “is a separate body, separate from the presidency.”
“Sometimes he acts as if Congress is merely an appendage, and, frankly, sometimes Congress acts like it’s an appendage,” the Louisiana Republican said in a pre-taped interview with CBS’ “Face the Nation” that aired Sunday.
The latest criticism in a public clash between the two leaders, Cassidy also told host Margaret Brennan that he would be focused on affordability, including the cost of health care and groceries, if he were president.
“If I were president, I would be focused on those people that they have, my people, our people, us at the kitchen table. How do you make their life better? And that’s what I think the president should be focused on,” Cassidy said.
The relationship between Cassidy and Trump has been rocky for some time. Cassidy was one of only a handful of Republican leaders who voted to convict Trump for his role in the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection.
Trump and Cassidy recently clashed in a closed-door meeting between GOP leaders, with Cassidy admitting he raised his voice to “match” the president’s.
“The president said something negative about me. I received it as attempting to bully me from asking a question that I think the American people need to know, and I’m not going to be bullied,” Cassidy said at the time.
However, after receiving a special briefing from Vice President JD Vance and special envoy Steve Witkoff, Cassidy changed his vote on a resolution designed to rein in Trump’s power to wage war against Iran.
“They said right now the negotiations are delicate, and they could collapse if they’re not nursed along in the appropriate way. I can accept that,” Cassidy said.
“That’s the reason they said for their kind of lack of being forthcoming. I can accept that, but my goal was to be briefed, to have the truth in order to make a decision for the benefit of my country, and that was satisfied.”
Still, Cassidy’s stance against Trump has cost him: After serving more than a decade in the Senate, Cassidy lost his campaign for renomination after Trump endorsed against him. Rep. Julia Letlow will be the Louisiana Republican Senate candidate this fall.
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