US Secretary of State Marco Rubio appears before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee in Washington, January 28, 2026. J. SCOTT APPLEWHITE/APMarco Rubio was in familiar territory on Wednesday, January 28, during his hearing before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, where he served for 14 years. The secretary of state, who also serves as national security adviser, had not taken part in such an exercise for some time. While China and Russia were scarcely mentioned and the Middle East was only briefly discussed, Venezuela was at the heart of the exchanges. The secretary of state painted a picture of a country in transition, welcoming the "substantial progress" achieved in just a few weeks since the removal of Nicolas Maduro on January 3.