Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell's reign as a party leader in the chamber ends this January, but he's looking at keeping the power he's gained over his years in office through a shift to chairing the powerful Senate Appropriations Committee if Republicans regain the chamber's majority, according to several sources close to the party's leadership.
No decisions have been reached, but moving to the chairmanship spot would still allow the Kentucky Republican, 82, to have a controlling hand in government funding until his term in office wraps up in 2027, reports Axios.
McConnell's shift to chairing the Appropriations Committee has precedent, as the late Sen. Robert Byrd, D-W.Va., chaired the committee after having also served as both majority and minority leader over the years.
However, Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, a longtime ally of McConnell's, is now the Appropriations Committee's vice chair and the top Republican on the panel, putting her in line for the top spot if her party wins the Senate.
Anne Clark, Collins' communications director, said the senator "fully anticipates" that she will either be the chair or vice chair of the Appropriations Committee.
Still, she said that it is McConnell's "prerogative to make his own decisions, given his seniority."
McConnell's office would not comment on McConnell's future plans except to say he's "focused on finishing the 118th Congress strong and helping Senate Republicans regain the majority."
The veteran senator, meanwhile, has been pushing back against Republican isolationists, including spending months to get a $95 billion foreign aid package passed for Ukraine, Israel, Gaza, and the Indo-Pacific region.
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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