Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell, of Kentucky, speaks during a press conference inside the U.S. Capitol building on Wednesday, March 20, 2024. (Photo by Jennifer Shutt/States Newsroom)   

WASHINGTON — Kentucky Republican Sen. Mitch McConnell announced Thursday he’ll become chairman of the Defense Appropriations Subcommittee and the Rules Committee when the new Congress convenes in January. 

“America’s national security interests face the gravest array of threats since the Second World War,” McConnell wrote in the announcement. “At this critical moment, a new Senate Republican majority has a responsibility to secure the future of U.S. leadership and primacy.”

Maine Sen. Susan Collins currently holds the top Republican slot on the Defense Subcommittee, which drafts the Pentagon’s annual spending bill, worth $825 billion.

Collins is expected to become chairwoman of the full Appropriations Committee next year and McConnell said in the statement he looks forward to working with her “to accomplish our shared goal.”

It wasn’t immediately clear Thursday if Collins would become chairwoman of one of the Appropriations Committee’s other 11 subcommittees.

Current Senate Appropriations Committee Chair Patty Murray, D-Wash., not only leads the full panel but is also chairwoman of the Energy-Water Subcommittee, for example.

McConnell will also take over the Senate Rules Committee, one of the oldest panels in the chamber that holds a broad jurisdiction.

“Defending the Senate as an institution and protecting the right to political speech in our elections remain among my longest-standing priorities,” McConnell wrote in his statement. “Ranking Member Deb Fischer has done an outstanding job advancing these causes, and I know she will remain a key partner in the committee’s ongoing work.”

Nebraska Republican Sen. Fischer secured reelection this year against a closer-than-expected challenge from an independent candidate in the Cornhusker State.

Thune taking over from McConnell

McConnell remained an active member of both the Senate Appropriations Committee and the Rules Committee after he became Senate Republican leader in 2007.

He’s stepping aside from that leadership role when the new Congress begins in January but will remain a member of the Senate.

Senate Republicans elected South Dakota’s John Thune to become the majority leader once they take over control of the upper chamber in January after flipping four seats in this year’s election.

McConnell is up for reelection in 2026 and hasn’t said yet if he’ll seek another six-year term in the Senate or opt to retire.

McConnell, 82, was first elected to the U.S. Senate in 1984.