Senate Republicans will meet behind closed doors Wednesday to discuss what’s being billed as the first step in choosing a successor to Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell.
Senators who believe they’ve been excluded from leadership decisions, especially those who sought to oust McConnell (Ky.) two years ago, said they’ll raise a number of possible changes to how the party selects its leadership and develop strategies to empower more junior lawmakers.
Such proposals could upend the way the chamber operates during the next term after McConnell steps aside as leader.
“We need a completely different governing model for this conference,” said Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.), whose letter with nine other Republicans triggered Wednesday’s meeting.
Here are some of the ideas senators plan to discuss:
Term Limits
Some senators hope to put limits on the number of times a senator can seek another two-year term as leader. Every other position in Republican leadership below the top job is limited to six years under the conference’s internal rules.
“I’m supportive of term limits for the leadership role,” said Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.). “I don’t expect it to happen on that day, but I certainly hope it’s something we’ll talk about.”
Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas), who is running for leader, has said he’d support such a change.
“One reason I am running to be the next Republican Leader is because I believe the Senate needs more engagement from all of my colleagues, and that includes the opportunity for any Member to serve in Leadership,” Cornyn posted on X, formerly Twitter.
McConnell, the longest-serving leader in the Senate’s history, thinks such restrictions would be “totally inappropriate.”
“We have term limits now. They’re called elections,” McConnell told reporters. “The conference ought to be able to be free to choose whoever. There’s no limit on the Speaker or the other House leaders.”
Election Timing
McConnell has said the election to replace him would take place just after the November elections, when both parties typically choose their leadership for the next Congress. But some senators want that election to be held either earlier or later.
Sen. Roger Marshall (R-Kan.) worries about the lengthy period between when McConnell announced in February he would step aside and the selection of a new leader.
“How long do we want a lame duck?” said Marshall, who wants to hold the election before November.
Johnson said elections for leader should be at least a month after the election, especially to give senators the chance to mount challenges to an incumbent.
A November election, which is backed by McConnell and his allies, allows newly-elected senators to vote and the conference to prepare for any potential change in the majority, argue advocates of that timing.
“It’s important to let the new people that are going to be coming in after November to have their voices heard for the leadership elections,” said Sen. Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.), a member of McConnell’s leadership team. “It is way too long and way too early, but that’s sort of the die that’s been cast here.”
Changing Big Bills
Senators broadly hope to diffuse the amount of power that has accumulated in Senate leadership and give more ability of rank-and-file members to shape legislation — especially government funding and foreign aid bills — before and after they are formally brought to the floor.
“We’ve consolidated too much power in the leader,” said Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.), who is mulling another bid for leader after challenging McConnell in 2022.
Senators often seek opportunities to hold votes on their amendments to larger pieces of legislation, often the only time to directly shape legislation moving across the floor.
Bipartisan agreements on what amendments get votes on funding bills or major authorizations require unanimous consent, giving individual senators the chance to press their policy priority. But those agreements are largely negotiated by leadership.
“This idea that you’re a United States senator and, you know, on these big appropriation bills that you can’t get an amendment vote, is totally nuts,” said Sen. Eric Schmitt (R-Mo.), who took office last year.
Committee Shuffles
Junior senators want more opportunities to join or even lead key committees that draft the most important legislation that moves to Congress.
Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala.) said he opposes the current practice of simply handing the gavel of policy committees to the most senior member of the majority.
“Just because you’ve been here a long time doesn’t mean you’d be the best chairman on a committee,” Tuberville said. He added the conference should consider some “limitation” on chairmanships. “I think merit-based is much better than what we’re doing right now,” he said.
Senate GOP conference rules already state seniority doesn’t have to be the sole factor in picking chairs. But senators typically defer to those who have served the longest.
Sen. Chuck Grassley (Iowa), who is 90 and has served as the top Republican on four different panels in his 43 years in office, said he’d like to eliminate the six-year term-limit on chairmen set by conference rules.
“That’s a little facetious, but you can understand why I don’t like that rule,” Grassley said.
Sen. JD Vance (R-Ohio) said he wants candidates for leaders to take “a less retaliatory posture” against senators who disagree with them. McConnell stripped Scott and Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) of their positions on the Commerce Committee after they moved to oust him two years ago.
Shorter Votes
Senators will also push for changes that affect them more personally.
For example, Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) said he’d like for Senate votes, which can often drag on for an hour to accommodate late lawmakers, to be shorter.
Tillis called such proposals “in the weeds stuff, but important.”
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