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President Trump's top diplomat is diving into his job. Marco Rubio was confirmed unanimously in the Senate last night, and he is at the State Department today, hosting foreign ministers from India, Japan and Australia. NPR's Michele Kelemen was there as the new secretary of state arrived.
MICHELE KELEMEN, BYLINE: Just days after former Secretary of State Antony Blinken said his farewell to the department, hundreds of staffers were back in the C Street lobby to welcome their new boss.
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UNIDENTIFIED PERSON: Colleagues, the 72nd secretary of state, Marco Rubio.
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KELEMEN: The first Latino in this post, Rubio arrived with his family saying he might be new to the job, but he's no stranger to the work of the State Department, having served on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and visited many embassies abroad.
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MARCO RUBIO: This is an extraordinary honor and a privilege to serve in this role, to be here, frankly, to oversee the greatest, the most effective, the most talented, the most experienced diplomatic corps in the history of the world resides in this building.
KELEMEN: Rubio seemed to be trying to put staffers at ease as the Trump administration takes aim at career government officials. Several officials who have already been pushed aside were standing beside him on the staircase in the main lobby.
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RUBIO: There will be changes, but the changes are not meant to be destructive. They're not meant to be punitive. They're not out of - the changes will be because we need to be a 21st century agency that can move by - cliche that's used by many - at the speed of relevance. But we need to move faster than we ever have because the world is changing faster than we ever have.
KELEMEN: Rubio says he's watched the State Department get sidelined in both Democratic and Republican administrations in the past. And he says he wants to make sure the department is at the center of American foreign policy now as the world grapples with wars in Ukraine, Sudan and the Middle East.
His first task was hosting a meeting of the so-called Quad - the U.S., Japan, Australia and India. It's a diplomatic grouping that's been a counterweight to China, which will likely be a big focus for Rubio, a longtime China hawk. Countering China was also one of the themes of today's confirmation hearing for Trump's pick to be the next U.N. ambassador, Elise Stefanik.
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ELISE STEFANIK: I believe we need to have a strategy to push back, particularly on the CCP's inroads within the Global South and even within the Western Hemisphere.
KELEMEN: And, she added, in the United Nations itself. But Democrats are raising concerns about President Trump's first foreign policy steps - taking the U.S. out of the Paris Climate Accord and the World Health Organization. Maryland Senator Chris Van Hollen says these actions will only seed ground to U.S. adversaries in the United Nations.
CHRIS VAN HOLLEN: Sadly, President Trump's decision to leave the World Health Organization will do just that. I believe it will make us less safe. Viruses don't respect national boundaries.
KELEMEN: Another Democrat, Hawaii Senator Brian Schatz, put it this way.
BRIAN SCHATZ: I know WHO is a done deal. I know Paris is a done deal. Fair enough - elections and consequences and all of that. But I am worried that we're going to just get out of the room and then relegate ourselves to observer status and then wonder why we're losing the battle in the room.
KELEMEN: Stefanik defended Trump's first foreign policy steps, including a 90-day pause on all development assistance. Like Secretary of State Rubio, she said this administration will only pay for things that it believes will make America stronger, safer and more prosperous.
Michele Kelemen, NPR News, the State Department.
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