WASHINGTON—While the successor to Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) won’t officially be decided until after the November election, an issue that has bedeviled GOP lawmakers for years might in just the next few days decisively shape the outcome.
Shortly after the six bills became public, Senate conservatives, including at least one who is expected to enter the succession contest, unleashed a barrage of tweets critically highlighting earmarks.
Mr. Scott criticized Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer’s (D-N.Y.) request for $1 million “to build a new environmental justice center in NYC. Give me a break.”
The Senate is expected to vote on the package by March 8.
The Florida lawmaker, who unsuccessfully challenged the GOP Senate leader in 2022, will join Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.) and Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) in the 2024 leadership contest.
The spending bill containing the earmarks “is, of course, insulting to conservatives,” a senior Senate GOP aide who requested anonymity told The Epoch Times.
“Mitch McConnell seems completely disinterested in fighting for Republican priorities—other than Ukraine funding,” the aide said.
“I don’t think the earmarks are changing anyone’s major calculations about the GOP leadership race, but I could certainly see contenders promising to fight earmarks under their tenure as a way of attracting conservative votes. I would hope they do.”
Earmarks promise to be a big problem for Mr. Thune, a moderate conservative who has been Senate Republican whip—the party’s No. 2 Senate leadership role—since 2021. He isn’t bashful about seeking earmarks, with, for example, nearly $44 million for three projects in the transportation spending bill.
Mr. Cornyn isn’t listed with any earmarks in the current spending package, but may yet be in appropriations considered in the coming weeks.
Sen. John Barrasso (R-Wyo.), the present Senate Republican conference chairman, is seeking to move up from the No. 3 slot in the GOP leadership to No. 2. Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.), who is thought to nurture presidential hopes, is seeking the position Mr. Barrasso will leave in November.
Another potential rival for Mr. McConnell’s role is Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), who has told aides he isn’t interested in the job, but who prior to being elected to the U.S. Senate, was the youngest House majority leader in the Florida state Legislature.
Possible dark horses are Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.), who is one of the Senate’s most conservative members, and Sen. Jone Ernst (R-Iowa), a military veteran and presently the Senate Republican policy chairperson. Another possibility, especially if Republicans make major gains in November, is Sen. Steve Daines (R-Mont.), who directs the National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC), the campaign arm of the Senate GOP.
The electoral numbers strongly favor the GOP in November. Only 10 Republican senators face reelection bids this year, while 20 Democrats and all three independents are in the hot seat. One independent, Sen. Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona, announced on March 5 that she is retiring.
Winning the race to succeed Mr. McConnell could very well mean becoming Senate majority leader, one of Washington’s most powerful jobs. The role will be more potent if President Trump is returned to the White House and Republicans retain control of the House of Representatives.
Mr. Lee leaves no doubt about the kind of leadership he expects from Mr. McConnell’s successor.
“The next Republican Senate leader must actually fight for Republican priorities, not whip votes to pass massive Democrat spending bills,” he told The Epoch Times.
“After generations of backroom spending deals, we finally have the opportunity to achieve conservative victories with leadership that reflects the concerns of millions of American families.”
The Utah Republican said, “We must secure the border, lower the cost of living, and restore constitutional government in Washington.”
How Mr. Thune and Mr. Cornyn, as well as any other potential rivals, handle earmarks is a litmus test eight months from the 2024 election.
“Either Thune or Cornyn could differentiate themselves by opposing appropriations bills loaded with earmarks and don’t cut spending,” he told The Epoch Times.
Mr. Darling was referring to steadily mounting frustration in recent years among the increasingly conservative Senate GOP with Mr. McConnell’s alleged tendency to cave too easily to Democrats’ demands for more federal spending year in and year out.
“The Republican Party is at a pivotal juncture in its growth. The younger generation of senators is veering from the standard for older senators, meaning we are unlikely to see a continuation of the last 25 years,” Mr. Brown told The Epoch Times.
“While Barasso, Scott, Cornyn, and Thune are likely to run or are already running, everyone should expect a few dark horses to rise to shake things up, similar to what we saw in the House but with less drama.”
Mr. Brown also believes Mr. McConnell’s decision to retire after a historically lengthy leadership career in the Senate had little to do with President Trump and a great deal to do with the significantly more conservative culture among Republican lawmakers.
“Mitch McConnell is a political animal. He doesn’t care much about what Trump does or thinks. It’s clear he is reading the tea leaves and seems to feel that he has already secured his legacy, particularly with the courts, and knows the future is now with a new breed of conservatism,” he said.
Also known as “pork barrel spending,” earmarks were first targeted in the Senate in 2006.
Sen. Tom Coburn’s (R-Okla.) determined opposition to wasteful spending earned him the sobriquet “Dr. No” among colleagues. He called earmarks the “gateway drug for federal spending addiction.”
Earmark sponsors were traditionally anonymous and became a target of the Tea Party Revolution in 2010, which helped elect Mr. Lee and Mr. Rubio, as well as Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) in 2012.
While both chambers of Congress adopted “earmark moratoriums,” they reappeared in 2019 with support from leaders and members of both political parties.
Conservatives in both chambers opposed the return of earmarks.
Sponsors of earmarks are now made public and the measures are officially referred to as “Community Funding Projects.”
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