Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell (Ky.) is planning to have a major influence on Republican policymaking even after stepping down as party leader at the end of the year and is working behind the scenes to set an agenda for your party if it wins. unified government control.
Senate Republicans say McConnell is laying the groundwork for a major budget reconciliation package that would extend Trump-era tax cuts and provide a big boost to defense spending.
Even after stepping down as the longest-serving Senate party leader in American history, McConnell would still be well-positioned to have control of former President Trump’s agenda in Congress, if Trump were to beat President Biden in November.
A Republican senator said McConnell is already working behind the scenes to put together the pieces of a massive reconciliation package so that Senate Republicans can get to work immediately if they regain control of the Senate, Trump wins the White House and Republicans maintain control. . of the Chamber.
Sen. Joni Ernst (R-Iowa) invited House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) to speak at the Senate Republican Policy Luncheon last week, where the Speaker kicked off the crafting of a Republican agenda for a budget reconciliation package, in which case Republicans control the White House and both chambers of Congress.
But senators say McConnell has been a driving force behind the scenes in the Senate.
“This looks to me like a McConnell-driven project. McConnell invited [Johnson] to come, McConnell spoke repeatedly” at the policy meeting, “and kept emphasizing, ‘You know we really need to be prepared, we need to write the legislation now,’” said a senator who attended the meeting. “Mitch seemed very focused.”
An Ernst aide confirmed that she invited Johnson to the meeting.
McConnell’s team also thanked Republican Senate managers during a meeting last week for working with them in crafting ideas for next year’s budget reconciliation package, according to a source familiar with the meeting.
Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas), who is running to succeed McConnell as Senate GOP leader, said McConnell has been “very” involved in crafting the Republican agenda for next year, should the GOP regain the majority.
“We need to be prepared to start work in January,” he said.
He said McConnell “is an important part of this process.”
“It will be very important for all of us if President Trump is elected and we have a majority of both chambers to be able to extend the current expiring tax provisions,” said Cornyn, a member of the Finance Committee.
If Republicans control the White House and Congress next year, they could bypass a Democratic filibuster in the Senate by placing their high-priority proposals in a budget reconciliation package.
McConnell’s allies say he wants to maximally prepare colleagues and the relevant committees of jurisdiction to leave his successor — whether Cornyn, Senate Republican leader John Thune (S.D.) or someone else — well positioned to pass legislation soon after Trump takes office.
“It’s natural and consistent with your M.O. [modus operandi] that he wants to leave the next leader in as good a position as possible to face the problems they will face in 2025. While he never takes anything for granted, you prepare for all eventualities, including the one in which Republicans have the House, the Senate and the White House,” said Rohit Kumar, co-leader of the national tax office at PricewaterhouseCoopers and former deputy chief of staff to McConnell.
“There will be intense pressure to move forward as quickly as possible on a reconciliation project,” he said.
McConnell tried to mend fences with Trump on Thursday during a lunch at the headquarters of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, and is poised to take a senior role on the committee when he steps down as leadership in January.
McConnell spoke to Trump for the first time since their December 2020 disagreement over recognizing Biden as the president-elect and shook his hand.
Republican senators at the meeting said Trump praised McConnell and made no mention of their rivalry.
Senate Republicans say they wasted valuable time in 2017, the first few months of Trump’s first term, because they didn’t have a clear plan for how to use the budget reconciliation process to get Trump’s agenda past Democratic opposition.
Few Republicans in Washington thought Trump would beat Hillary Clinton in the 2016 election, and when he unexpectedly triumphed, they spent weeks debating whether or not they should tackle repealing the Affordable Care Act and how to do it.
McConnell has the seniority to become chairman of the Appropriations Committee or the Defense Appropriations Subcommittee in 2025. He is also a senior member of the Senate Rules Committee.
While he could very well let his good friend, Senator Susan Collins (R-Maine), who is running for re-election in 2026, take the Appropriations Committee gavel in a new Senate Republican majority, there is no doubt that McConnell would exercise a huge amount of influence on the committee next year.
“He hasn’t made a decision on that yet, but obviously he would still be incredibly influential in everything he does, whether it’s in Endowments or in any role he plays. He is someone who knows how to operate within the House and understands the rules, knows how to make a big impact regardless of whether he is in elected leadership,” said a Senate GOP strategist.
McConnell endorsed a proposal put forward by Senator Roger Wicker (R-Miss.), who would become chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee with a Republican majority, to increase defense spending from 2.9% to 5% of gross domestic product in the next year. five to seven years.
McConnell called the Senate’s special budget reconciliation rules, which could extend Trump-era tax cuts, an “important tool.”
But he has not commented on his behind-the-scenes role this spring in getting Senate Republicans on the same page should they return to the majority.
“The first step is that we need a Republican president, a Republican House and a Republican Senate or there will be no reconciliation at all. It’s an important tool. We hope to have the opportunity to use it,” he told reporters.
This story originally appeared on thehill.com read the full story
