Venezuela’s interim government has agreed to submit a monthly “budget” to the Trump administration, which will release money from an account funded by the country’s oil sales and initially managed by Qatar, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Wednesday.
But the plan drew sharp questions from skeptical Democrats, and Mr. Rubio conceded that it was “novel” and hastily designed. The role of Qatar — a Middle Eastern country thousands of miles from Venezuela whose ruler has won President Trump’s favor — drew particular criticism from Democrats, who questioned its legality and transparency.
Mr. Rubio detailed the plan during an appearance before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. It was Mr. Rubio’s first public testimony to Congress since American forces captured Venezuela’s leader, Nicolás Maduro, on Jan. 3, and an opportunity to clarify U.S. policy toward the country.
Many questions are sure to persist, however.
Mr. Rubio assured senators, for instance, that the Trump administration had established a “very respectful and productive line of communication” with the government of Delcy Rodríguez, a close ally of Mr. Maduro who assumed power after his removal. As a result, he said, the Trump administration does not “intend or expect” to use military force against Venezuela “at any time.”
Yet Mr. Rubio took a more threatening tone in a written opening statement that he submitted to the committee but did not deliver orally, making brief extemporaneous remarks instead. The written statement warned that the United States was “prepared to use force to ensure maximum cooperation” from Ms. Rodríguez’s government “if other methods fail.”
That cooperation is largely focused on Venezuela’s lucrative oil industry. Mr. Trump has previously said that the United States will control Venezuela’s oil and “run the country,” but Mr. Rubio provided more details.
The United States will help Venezuela’s government fund basic public services by disbursing proceeds from the sale of Venezuelan oil that is subject to U.S. sanctions, Mr. Rubio said. He said that the approach was necessary because of a “fiscal crunch” in Venezuela and that it was a “short-term mechanism” not meant to become permanent.
“They needed money in the immediacy to fund the police officers, the sanitation workers, the daily operations of government,” Mr. Rubio added. “They have pledged to use a substantial amount of those funds to purchase medicine and equipment directly from the United States.”
In an arrangement that he acknowledged was unusual, Mr. Rubio said the funds would initially be held in an offshore account controlled by Qatar before eventual transferral to a U.S. Treasury account.
“I understand it’s novel, but it’s the best we could come up with in the short term,” Mr. Rubio said.
He said a third-party account was necessary because of U.S. financial sanctions on Venezuela and because U.S. creditors to whom the country owes money, mainly from its seizure of American energy company assets roughly 20 years ago, could otherwise make legal claims on the funds that would complicate their disbursement.
The Venezuelan government did not immediately respond to a request for comment about the plan.
Some Democrats had doubts. “I think this is novel. I think it’s funky. I think it may not even be permissible,” Senator Brian Schatz, Democrat of Hawaii, told Mr. Rubio.
Mr. Schatz questioned whether the Trump administration had the legal authority to create and manage such an account. He also complained that the administration had not released the text of what Mr. Rubio said was a written agreement with Ms. Rodríguez’s government.
Mr. Rubio said the Treasury Department could provide the agreement.
Representative Lloyd Doggett, Democrat of Texas, said in a statement that Mr. Rubio’s testimony “raised more questions than answers,” and demanded to know why, instead of Qatar, the administration had not chosen “a country with much stronger banking laws and a history of robust management of oil revenues.”
“There are currently no safeguards to ensure the Rodríguez family does not use the revenue to pay off Maduro’s allies, including paramilitary groups and drug cartels, to maintain control of the country,” Mr. Doggett said.
And by shielding the money from creditors through the use of the Qatari account, he added, the Trump administration is “unlawfully refusing to honor debts owed to U.S. institutions.”
Mr. Rubio also parried questions about whether and when the United States would insist on a political transition that removed Mr. Maduro’s cronies from their continued hold on power.
“I can’t give you a timeline of how long it takes,” he said. “It can’t take forever. I get it. We all want something immediately. But this is not a frozen dinner you put in a microwave and in two and a half minutes it comes out ready to eat.”
Mr. Rubio’s undelivered written remarks suggested that Ms. Rodríguez had bought herself some time. “It is our belief that her own self-interest aligns with advancing our key objectives,” he wrote. “She has committed to opening Venezuela’s energy sector to American companies, providing preferential access to production, and using revenues to purchase American goods.”
While many Republicans praised Mr. Rubio and Mr. Trump for what they called decisive action against Mr. Maduro, that policy did not sit well with many Democrats.
“You are taking their oil at gunpoint,” Senator Christopher S. Murphy of Connecticut said. “You’re deciding how and for what purposes that money is going to be used in a country of 30 million people,” he added. “I think a lot of us believe that that is destined for failure.”
Michael Crowley covers the State Department and U.S. foreign policy for The Times. He has reported from nearly three dozen countries and often travels with the secretary of state.
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