“Freshman Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) is becoming an increasingly critical and hawkish voice on the Obama administration’s foreign policy, but he is actually a supporter of U.S. foreign assistance programs and made the case for maintaining this funding to his constituents last week,” Foreign Policy’s “The Cable” blog writes.

In a video response to a constituent’s letter, Rubio said, “We certainly have to be more careful when spending foreign aid. … On the other hand, sometimes in the press and in the minds of many, our foreign aid is exaggerated,” adding ,”It really is a miniscule part of our overall budget and it’s not the reason we have this growing debt in America.” Rubio said the U.S. effort to provide HIV medications to those in need in Africa is a good example of how foreign aid can benefit millions of people (Rogin, 7/5).