The US Senate unanimously approved Marco Rubio as Secretary of State in the hours after Donald Trump's inauguration on Monday.
Mr Trump's picks for Pentagon chief and director of national intelligence also cleared key hurdles, as Republicans rally to assist the President on his “day one” agenda.
The Senate Intelligence Committee approved Mr Trump's nomination for director of the CIA, John Ratcliffe. And the Armed Services Committee paved the way for Mr Trump's controversial defence secretary choice, Pete Hegseth, to move to a final vote in a party-line vote.
Mr Rubio, a Republican senator from Florida, received a unanimous endorsement from his colleagues on the Foreign Relations Committee, including every committee Democrat.
A seasoned politician with a hawkish foreign policy record, he is considered to be among the least controversial cabinet picks for Mr Trump's second term.
At his confirmation hearing last week, Mr Rubio persisted with Mr Trump's hardline “America First” agenda and emphasised “historic opportunities” for the US in the Middle East under the new Trump government.
He said widespread Republican victories in the November elections have given a “very clear” directive that US policy abroad must be driven by “three simple questions”: “Does it make America safer? Does it make America stronger? Does it make America more prosperous?”
The new “Trump trifecta” government is officially in play in Washington, with Mr Trump's inauguration cementing the party's control of the White House, the Senate and the House of Representatives.
“Secretary Rubio is exactly what America needs after four failed years of the Biden administration. I can’t wait to partner with him to root out DEI and waste at the State Department," House Foreign Affairs Committee chairman Brian Mast. "A Golden Age of America First foreign policy is here. Let's get to work."
The full Senate also met to vote on the Laken Riley Act, a major bill seen as a staple in Republican efforts to assist Mr Trump's crackdown on immigration. The legislation requires the detention of illegal immigrants who are arrested for minor crimes.
Mr Trump, who officially returned to the White House on Monday morning, unleashed a sweeping batch of executive orders on immigration, energy and US culture war issues that underpinned his campaign.
He announced that he is declaring a state of emergency at the US border with Mexico, and that he will send US “troops to repel the disastrous invasion of our country”.
Democrats, in border states and in districts with larger immigrant communities, are intensifying educational efforts reminding constituents to “know your rights if you ever have an encounter with an immigration enforcement agency”.
Republican Speaker of the House Mike Johnson vowed in a statement after the inauguration that Congress “work closely with President Trump to deliver the America First Agenda”.
“Our country now stands at the threshold of a new era – America's Golden Age has arrived,” Mr Johnson said in the joint statement with the party's House leadership.
