Senate Democrats appear to be warming up to Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.), President-elect Trump’s combative and confrontational nominee for envoy to the United Nations, encouraged by commitments she’ll engage with the global body rather than seek to burn it down.
Stefanik, who served as the third-ranking Republican leader in the House, has carved out a reputation as a bullish fighter, particularly on confronting instances of antisemitism, and is expected to make calling out anti-Israel bias at the UN a major focus of her posting.
“She made it very clear that she was accessible and she wasn’t walking away from the United Nations,” said Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.), who will question Stefanik during her confirmation hearing on Tuesday before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
“I thought it was good she said she would engage with the U.N. and really take on the role,” the senator told The Hill following a meeting with Stefanik on Thursday morning. Duckworth said the congresswoman “did very well today with me.”
Stefanik has frequented Senate offices in recent weeks to discuss how she’ll approach the global diplomatic body, which Democrats view as an imperfect but important venue for engagement.
Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.), another member of the foreign relations panel, said he had a “good, substantive meeting” with Stefanik last week, but said whether Democrats get on board with greenlighting a quick path to confirmation depends on her hearing.
“I’m nervous a little bit about how [President-elect Trump] would approach some of these international organizations. Can they be frustrating? Yes. But when the U.S. disengages, it gets worse, not better for us. So I’m nervous about that,” Kaine said.
Trump took aim at the United Nations during his first term, withdrawing the United States from the UN Human Rights Council; cutting funding for UNRWA, the Palestinian Refugee organization; withholding funding for the World Health Organization and restricting support to UN entities the administration viewed as providing information or access on abortions.
Republicans are largely united on many of those issues and overwhelming critical of the body as bias against Israel, a view shared by some Democrats.
“The U.N. has proven again and again that it is a cesspool of antisemitism that has completely turned against Israel in its darkest hour,” Stefanik wrote in an op-ed for the Washington Examiner published in September.
Stefanik took aim at U.N. entities she said failed to hold enemies of Israel accountable – Hamas, the U.S.-designated terrorist group in the Gaza Strip; and its main backer, Iran — following Hamas’s Oct. 7 terrorist attack against the country. She lambasted the WHO, U.N. women, U.N. office for humanitarian affairs, the Human Rights Council, and UNRWA as failing to adequately condemn Hamas.
“As the largest financial contributor to the U.N., the U.S. must present the U.N. with a choice: reform this broken system and return it to the beacon of peace and freedom the world needs it to be, or continue down this antisemitic path without the support of American taxpayers,” Stefanik wrote.
Stefanik is not likely to face any Republican opposition on her way to confirmation, but receiving backing from Senate Democrats can help the process move faster. Trump is likely to have only one Cabinet nominee confirmed by the time he takes office on Jan. 20 – Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fl.), his nominee for secretary of State, who has garnered key Democrat backing.
Stefanik’s Tuesday hearing isn’t likely to be as smooth sailing as Rubio’s, which took place on Jan 15, given his collegial relations throughout the committee he once served on.
“He came so prepared it was really quite impressive,” Duckworth said.
Stefanik, a member of the House since 2015, is a lesser known quantity among Democratic senators, who are concerned over whether Trump’s “America First” agenda will result in the U.S. abdicating its seat in the international arena, and allowing Russia and China to fill the void.
“I had a frank discussion today with Rep. Elise Stefanik about my concerns with President-elect Trump’s disdain for participating in important — albeit imperfect — international institutions,” Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) said following a meeting with the congresswoman last week.
“If we want to compete with countries like China, we have to be engaged, because when the United States voluntarily gives up our seat at the table, it’s Beijing who writes the rules.”
Stefanik also met with Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.), the ranking member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, in mid-December, and the two women smiled in photos marking the meeting.
Shaheen will likely to be a determining factor in clearing the way for a swift confirmation. The chair and ranking member of the committee traditionally adhere to comity when scheduling business meetings to advance nominees or legislation, in a show of bipartisan cooperation.
“In our meeting today, Congresswoman Stefanik and I spoke about the importance of bringing allies and like-minded countries together through the United Nations to address global crises and achieve outcomes that are beneficial to America’s national security,” Shaheen said in a statement.
“I expressed my deeply held belief that, when the U.S. has a meaningful seat at the table, we can accomplish shared priorities like promoting democratic values, countering Russia and China’s malign influence and combatting anti-Semitism. I look forward to discussing these topics further in the Congresswoman’s confirmation hearing.”
