“If confirmed, I will work to ensure that our mission to the United Nations serves the interests of the American people and represents President Trump’s America First peace-through-strength foreign policy,” Stefanik said in her opening statement.

Stefanik, the fourth-ranking Republican in the House of Representatives in the last Congress, vowed to utilize her skills as a lawmaker to scrutinize the funding provided to the U.N. and cut the budget provided if necessary.

“As a member of Congress, I also understand deeply that we must be good stewards of U.S. taxpayer dollars,” Stefanik said. “The U.S. is the largest contributor to the U.N. by far. Our tax dollars should not be complicit in propping up entities that are counter to American interests, antisemitic, or engaging in fraud, corruption, or terrorism.”

Republicans praised her aggressive questioning of a group of university presidents over antisemitism on their campuses in the aftermath of Hamas’s 2023 terrorist attacks against Israel that led to two of their resignations. Harvard University, Stefanik’s alma mater, settled two antisemitism lawsuits Tuesday, agreeing to provide additional protections for Jewish students.

“Elise has shown her moral clarity by exposing antisemitism on our college campuses,” said Sen. Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV), who introduced Stefanik at the hearing. “She has shown that moral clarity by posting on social media every single day about the innocent, innocent hostages taken by Hamas during the horrific attacks of Oct. 7.”

.@SenCapito and @SenTomCotton are introducing Stefanik to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. Capito: “It is clear that the need to re establish us leadership at this broken institution, that we need to do that I cannot think of anyone who’s qualified or more ready.” pic.twitter.com/LzXcr3lQIR

— Samantha-Jo Roth (@SamanthaJoRoth) January 21, 2025

Stefanik, 40, who would be the youngest U.S. ambassador to the U.N., has been vocal about supporting Israel since the attacks. She has accused the U.N. of being a “den of antisemitism” for its criticism of Israel’s response in Gaza, which has led to the deaths of over 46,600 people, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry, which is run by Hamas and does not distinguish militants from civilians.

Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) pushed the congresswoman to detail her views on “the day after” the war ends in Gaza, asking her if she agrees that an effort to secure peace including “human rights and the right to self-determination for both Israelis and Palestinians” is necessary.

“I support human rights for all, and I think it’s a disgrace that Hamas and Hezbollah have stripped human rights of the Palestinian people,” Stefanik responded, “and we need to ensure that we are standing up for human rights, and Israel is standing up for human rights. They are a beacon of human rights in the region.”

“I asked you in my office also about whether Palestinians have the right to self-determination,” Van Hollen said. “My understanding was you said yes. You have a different answer today.”

“I believe the Palestinian people deserve so much better than the failures,” Stefanik said before Van Hollen cut her off.

The U.S. pays about one-fifth of the U.N.’s regular budget, and Stefanik has vowed to review “where every dollar goes” to its multiple agencies.

Last year, Congress and the Biden administration temporarily paused funding for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East, a U.N. humanitarian aid agency, after Israel claimed that the agency employed 12 people who participated in the Oct. 7 attack. The Trump administration previously cut funding in 2018, and Democrats on the panel expressed concern over further cuts to funding to the organization and its multiple agencies.

“I just want to raise my profound concern about an executive order signed yesterday by President Trump that puts a 90-day pause on all development assistance without clarifying the scope of that,” Sen. Chris Coons (D-DE) said. “Does that include our contributions to UNICEF and the World Food Programme, which I think you would recognize — you did recognize — it’s led by Americans, broad bipartisan support, part of the key mission of the U.N. to promote stability and security by feeding hungry people and bringing stability? Does that include USAID support to Ukraine’s energy grid as Putin continues to hammer civilians through attacks on the energy grid?”

Even Republicans asked for more clarity on where exactly those cuts will occur.

“I understand the president plans to defund some of these,” Sen. John Curtis (R-UT) said. “Can you give me a sense, from your perspective, how you begin to, with your team’s limited resources, figure out which of these agencies are actually important, in the best interest, of the United States, and which ones we need to address?”

“We want to do a full assessment of all of the U.N. subagencies and make sure every dollar goes toward our American interest,” Stefanik said. “As the U.N. ambassador, I believe that’s my responsibility. For example, the U.N. Security Council is in a different situation than UNRWA, which I believe should be at the bottom of the list.

“I want to see a ranking, and I want to do an assessment, working with Secretary Rubio and working with President Trump and the National Security Council to make sure the programs we are funding represent our values,” she said.

Stefanik, who had previously worked in former President George W. Bush’s White House on the domestic policy council, appeared to receive strong support from the majority of Democrats on the panel. However, the congresswoman faced some tense questioning, including a back-and-forth with Sen. Tim Kaine (D-VA), when he entered a news article into the record in which he said she made “partisan comments” about the border, saying it raises questions.

“I wanted to just point out that I stand strongly for border security and that was what the tweet you referenced was related to — I would point out that in the sector that I represent … there was a border security officer killed in the last 24 hours,” Stefanik said before Kaine asked her whether she believes any Democratic senators “want open borders and a mass amnesty for illegal, undocumented immigrants.”

“I think there are Democratic senators who support open borders,” Stefanik replied. “I do stand by my rhetoric standing by strong borders, and the American people overwhelmingly support that.”

Sen. Chris Murphy (D-CT) then asked Stefanik what she thought of X owner Elon Musk’s one-armed gestures that resembled “two Heil Hitler salutes” during Trump’s Monday rally at Capital One Arena in Washington.

“No, Elon Musk did not do those salutes,” Stefanik said. “I was not at the rally, but I’ve been at many rallies where Elon Musk likes to cheer when President Trump says we need to our U.S. space program to Mars. That is simply not the case, and … the American people are smart. They see through it, they support Elon Musk. We are proud to be the country of such successful entrepreneurs.”

Murphy then shared the celebration of Musk’s hand gesture by domestic neo-Nazi and white supremacist groups on social media in the aftermath. He asked Stefanik whether she was concerned that these groups believe what they saw was a Nazi salute.

“What I’m concerned about is that these are the questions that are most important to ask to the U.N. ambassador,” Stefanik said. “I have a strong record when it comes to combating antisemitism. We just had an election where President Trump earned historic support from American voters because of his strong leadership combating antisemitism.”

Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA) is the only Democrat who has publicly said he would vote to confirm Stefanik thus far. However, many Democrats on the panel left meetings with her in the week leading up to the hearing indicating they are inclined to support her nomination.