Republican Rep. Elise Stefanik focused on an “America First” message at her confirmation hearing Tuesday, and pledged to implement President Trump’s agenda while rolling out a review of U.S. funding for some of the world body’s agencies.
Stefanik, one of President Trump’s most reliable allies in Congress, appeared before the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations for her confirmation hearing less than 24 hours after Mr. Trump was sworn into office. Mr. Trump hopes his key Cabinet picks will sail through confirmation, and Secretary of State Marco Rubio was confirmed in a unanimous vote on Monday, and was sworn in on Tuesday. Stefanik is likely to be confirmed when the full Senate takes up a vote.
Noting that the U.S. is the largest single contributor to the United Nations, she pointed to the children’s agency UNICEF and the World Food Program as examples of U.N. entities that are “effective,” but said the U.S. has to ensure its investments are making America safer, stronger and more prosperous — echoing Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
“Our tax dollars should not be complicit in propping up entities that are counter to American interests, antisemitic, or engaging in fraud, corruption or terrorism,” Stefanik said in her opening remarks before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
Alex Brandon / AP
She stressed the need to reform the world body, where lawmakers raised the ability of American adversaries Russia and China to veto resolutions in the U.N. Security Council, and went so far as to say that it has not lived up to its founding mission.
Sen. Jim Risch, the Republican committee chair, set the tone by sharply criticizing the U.N. at the start of the hearing, saying that Stefanik “can bring much-needed change” to the institution.
“At this point, the U.S. should seriously examine if further contributions and, indeed, participation in the U.N. is even beneficial to the American people,” the Idaho lawmaker said.
Harvard-educated and the fourth-ranking member of the U.S. House, Stefanik was elected to Congress in 2015 as a moderate Republican and is leaving a decade later as one of Trump’s most ardent allies. She embraced Trump after the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol as he denied he lost the election to Democrat Joe Biden.
When Trump announced Stefanik’s appointment, his former national security adviser John Bolton told The Associated Press that he sees her as the new version of Trump’s U.N. ambassador in his first administration — Nikki Haley. Haley went on to challenge him, unsuccessfully, for the GOP nomination last year.
Stefanik “wants to run for president in 2028,” said Bolton, who also served as U.S. ambassador to the U.N. in President George W. Bush’s administration. “She realizes she has no foreign policy experience, so what better way than to become U.N. ambassador. She stays two years, and then away we go.”
Stefanik was asked about her views on the wars in Gaza, Ukraine, Sudan and elsewhere as well as the North Korean and Iranian nuclear programs — all issues on the U.N. agenda.
The United States pays about one-fifth of the U.N.’s regular budget, and she has already been questioned about her comments on cutting the U.N. budget and continuing support for its multiple agencies. Those tackle everything from health, education and migration to reproductive rights and nuclear proliferation.
She responded by saying she is open to reviewing agencies to ensure “that all of our taxpayer dollars are going to entities that function very well.”
But she also agreed with Democratic Sen. Chris Coons about supporting efforts to strengthen alliances, especially when it comes to China’s influence at the world body. Trump has been skeptical of U.S. alliances, including NATO and defense partnerships in the Asia-Pacific, which the Biden team worked to shore up after taking over from Trump after his first term.
Stefanik saw her profile rise after her aggressive questioning last year of a trio of university presidents about antisemitism on their campuses, leading to two of their resignations — a performance Trump repeatedly praised.
“I was interested in this position because if you look at the antisemitic rot within the United Nations, there are more resolutions targeting Israel than any other country, any other crisis combined,” Stefanik testified.
Who is Elise Stefanik?
Stefanik, 40, would be the youngest-ever U.S. ambassador to the U.N. The New York Republican has served in a leadership position as Republican conference chair, and she was on the House Armed Services Committee and House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence. And that skillset honed in Congress will serve her well, said Jon Alterman, senior vice president and director of the Middle East program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.
Alterman said Stefanik brings some of the most important qualities a U.N. ambassador can have — a close relationship with the president and an ability to communicate and execute his policies.
Elected to represent New York’s 21st Congressional District in 2014, Stefanik was the youngest Republican woman to join Congress at the age of 30. She has easily won reelection in her upstate New York district ever since. As GOP conference chair, Stefanik has been the highest-ranking woman in the House.
Born and raised in upstate New York, Stefanik was the first in her immediate family to earn a college degree, according to her office. She graduated from Harvard University, where she studied government.
She has been very vocal about supporting Israel, especially since the Hamas cross-border attacks on Oct. 7, 2023, in which militants killed about 1,200 people and took some 250 hostage. It led to the Israeli-Hamas war in Gaza, where a ceasefire that the U.S. helped broker has taken hold.
In her 20s, she worked in the White House on President George W. Bush’s Domestic Policy Council. Stefanik and her husband have one son.
“The most important part of being a representative is having a relationship to the president, being able to speak for the president, and speak for the administration’s policies,” Alterman said. “I think she is very good at thinking about messaging, she understands the president’s instincts and he likes her.”
“And I think the political skill that you pick up being in Congress ends up being really helpful when you’re working in the U.N.,” Alterman continued. “I mean, a lot of it is about building coalitions, about neutralizing opposition, about finding compromises. All those kinds of things are skills that Congress and other kinds of political experience is great for.”
Alterman said he thinks people “underestimate her communication skills.”
“I think she’s very smart and savvy,” Alterman said. “And having an ambassador to the UN who can understand the impact of her words and actions advances the administration’s agenda.”
