Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Wednesday that he relayed to NATO allies that the U.S. "may be the richest country in the world, but we don't have unlimited resources."
Rubio made the remark at a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing on U.S. policy toward Venezuela, during which he spoke about the American military operation to capture former dictator Nicolás Maduro earlier this month.
"One of the things we've explained to our allies in NATO is the United States is not simply focused on Europe. We also have defense needs in the Western Hemisphere. We have defense needs in the Indo-Pacific, and it will require us - we may be the richest country in the world, but we don't have unlimited resources," Rubio said.
When pressed by Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H., on whether the U.S. still benefits from NATO, Rubio said, "We do. I mean, the problem, but NATO needs to be reimagined as well in terms of the obligations."
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"And this is not new to this president. Multiple presidents have complained about it. I think this president just complains about it louder than other presidents," the secretary added.
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Rubio added that prior to Maduro's capture on Jan. 3, "We had in our hemisphere a regime operated by an indicted narco-trafficker that became a base of operation for virtually every competitor, adversary and enemy in the world."
Rubio also said Wednesday, "We are certainly better off today in Venezuela than we were four weeks ago."
"I'm not here to claim to you this is going to be easy or simple," Rubio told lawmakers. "I am saying that in three and a half, almost four weeks, we are much further along on this project than we thought we would be, given the complexities of it going into it, and I recognize that it won't be easy. I mean, look, at the end of the day we are dealing with people over there that have spent most of their lives living in a gangster paradise."
