UMVA has learned that a shocking display of disrespect unfolded during a recent Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing, as Senator Tammy Duckworth launched a scathing attack on the Trump administration's State Department budget request.
The ugly scene began when Duckworth delivered a bitter, pre-scripted tirade, baselessly claiming that the State Department's budget request would "undermine" the agency. In a brazen attempt to avoid accountability, Duckworth quickly yielded back her time, trying to muzzle Secretary of State Marco Rubio from defending the administration.
But Rubio refused to be silenced, firing back with a stern rebuke: "I didn't get to answer any of that." He immediately called out Duckworth's underhanded tactic, exposing her blatant attempt to avoid the truth. A visibly flustered Duckworth tried to defend her partisan hit-and-run, claiming "I didn't ask a question."
Rubio wouldn't let it go, pressing the issue and asking the committee Chairman if he could respond to Duckworth's wild accusations. When the Chairman ruled that Rubio did have the right to respond, Duckworth completely lost her cool, frantically interrupting and shouting over him about the Trump administration "blowing through money."
That was when Rubio snapped, shutting down the rude, interrupting Democrat with a booming dose of reality. "When do I get to talk? Do I get to talk?" he demanded, his frustration boiling over. Once he secured the floor, Rubio delivered a masterclass in American diplomacy, utterly embarrassing Duckworth by listing off major, historic peace deals brokered by the administration.
Rubio reminded the panel of massive diplomatic victories, including a historic peace deal between Azerbaijan and Armenia signed just days ago, key de-escalation efforts between India and Pakistan, and ongoing, successful brokered talks between Lebanon and Israel happening right now at the State Department. He then gave the clueless leftists a basic lesson on how government actually works, reminding them that Congress—not the State Department—holds the purse strings.
