Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell says his main focus is making sure that Republicans regain control of the Senate.
“Look, what I want to do and what I’m focused on is not the presidential race, but getting the Senate back. I’ve been the majority leader, I’ve been the minority leader, majority is better,” Mr. McConnell, Kentucky Republican, said Sunday on CBS’ “Face the Nation.”
Mr. McConnell, who announced in February that he would step down from his leadership position in November, said the “single most important thing I can do is make sure my successor is the majority leader, no matter how the presidential election comes out.”
He said he hasn’t been “entirely satisfied” with how the Biden administration has handled pressing issues. But he likes that former President Donald Trump, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, stopped criticizing the GOP for supporting the foreign aid package that was created by House Speaker Mike Johnson, Louisiana Republican, and was recently signed by President Biden.
“I’m going to be advocating increasing the defense budget no matter who gets elected and preparing ourselves for the long term, which is China, Russia, and Iran,” Mr. McConnell said. “This administration’s budget requests for defense haven’t even kept up with inflation.”
When asked how he would stop Mr. Trump from ending funding to Ukraine, which the former president has vowed to do if he is reelected, Mr. McConnell maintained that he’s focusing on getting a GOP majority in the Senate.
“What I’m doing is trying to change the Senate so that we have a majority and trying to produce a majority of the majority of the importance of defense spending, no matter who wins the presidential election,” he said.
“I can’t control that. I have some influence here in the Senate,” he said. “I intend to use it no matter who gets elected president to increase our defense budget and get ready for the challenges that we have ahead of us, rather than just looking backward.”
He suggested that he’d be willing to have a “firewall” against Republicans and their potential leader.
“I’ve been willing to do that. I had something to do with changing opinion in the Senate on this issue, and I think a lot more of my members now understand the importance of it,” he said.
• Mallory Wilson can be reached at mwilson@washingtontimes.com.
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