U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio today announced he is opposing the nomination of Antony Blinken as deputy secretary of State due to his attitude on Cuba.
During Blinken’s confirmation hearing last month, Rubio, a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, questioned President Barack Obama’s nominee about future unilateral changes to U.S.-Cuba policy without democratic reforms, as required by law.
Given several opportunities – during both the hearing and follow-up written testimony – the Florida senator and prospective White House candidate said Blinken hesitated to rule out the possibility of unilateral changes to America’s policy on Cuba.
“Unless Cuba begins an irreversible democratic transformation,” Rubio said, “the U.S. should not reward the Castro regime with unilateral concessions from us that enrich the regime and help it repress millions of Cubans.”
Rubio acknowledged that people could disagree with U.S. policy and even push to change the laws.
“But if you’re going to serve at the U.S. Department of State,” he said, “you must faithfully execute existing laws. Mr. Blinken has been afforded numerous opportunities to make clear that he will abide by U.S.-Cuba policy that has been codified into law, and he declined to do so each time.
Rubio added that he will continue to oppose the nomination, until Blinken assures the committee that “he will faithfully execute the laws that currently exist with respect to U.S.-Cuba policy.”
Blinken, 52, has served as deputy national security adviser since January 2013. Obama nominated him to become the next deputy secretary of State after the retirement of William Joseph Burns.
