‘Tens of billions’: What McConnell’s move for Appropriations would mean for Kentucky

The list is an impressive one: $65 million dollars for an animal research lab at the University of Kentucky. Another $4 billion for the US Army storage depot in Richmond. Plus, $260 million for opioid prevention and treatment programs that dot every region in the commonwealth.

These are some of the biggest pots of cash Sen. Mitch McConnell has reeled in for Kentucky, engineered by his 31 years on the Senate Appropriations Committee. And back home, the recipients of the largesse don’t mince words about the potency of that prized perch.

“If you don’t have a member on that committee — that money goes to other states,” said Eric King, who runs federal relations for the University of Kentucky, the state’s largest.

Now, as McConnell’s time as GOP leader enters its sunset, he’s contemplating whether to pull rank — and transition in 2025 to leading the coveted committee that directs federal discretionary spending if Republicans reclaim the Senate majority after November’s election.

A former aide to McConnell said while he’s talked about a “prominent role” on Appropriations, he’s also seriously weighing the chairmanship of the Defense Subcommittee on Appropriations in order to punctuate a legacy of imperishable investment in the U.S. military.

Either role would allow McConnell to steer hundreds of more millions, if not billions, to Kentucky in his final years in the Senate.

“You could probably expect a boost in federal infrastructure in our state,” King said.

It’s hard for McConnell’s own office to quantify just how much federal money McConnell has sent back to Kentucky during his 39-year tenure.

“Tens of billions,” is how a spokesman characterized the staggering bounty.

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Just this week, McConnell’s office announced the procurement of $3 million for improvements to the roads surrounding the Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport, after the senator contacted the US Department of Transportation.

Boone County Judge Executive Gary Moore dubbed the funding “transformational” for more efficient travel and economic development around the transportation hub.

But much of McConnell’s capital is directed toward a pair of entities: The University of Kentucky and Kentucky military installations.

The Blue Grass Army Depot, a storage facility located about 40 miles south of Lexington, has received more than $4 billion to complete one of its missions of destroying dangerous chemical materials.

As a major employer of 1,450 people that pays some of the highest wages in the region, the army depot is crucial to the economic vitality of Madison County.

“We have been fortunate to have a champion in Sen. McConnell,” said Reagan Taylor, the Madison County judge executive.

At the University of Kentucky, McConnell’s clout landed the school $65.9 million for a federal Department of Agriculture facility, where scientists and researchers will study the nutritional value of grass and forage and how they impact animals.

The research lab will help establish central Kentucky as a leading hub for high-tech agricultural research and will prove integral to the all important beef-producing and livestock sectors. Construction on the 52,600-square foot facility is underway, with completion targeted for 2026.

“If he wasn’t there,” King said, “that project could go somewhere else.”

Millions of investments to KY

McConnell doesn’t need to make a decision on whether to make a move for the Appropriations chairmanship until after Election Day. He wants to wait and see how the Senate battlefield pans out and what the state of global affairs looks like.

But if he was to make a move for the gavel, he’d have to pull his ranking seniority and bump the current ranking member in line to lead the committee, Sen. Susan Collins of Maine.

Sen. Kevin Cramer, a Republican from North Dakota, doubts McConnell will actually go through with it.

“I don’t think Mitch McConnell, out of respect for Susan, would become the chairman of Appropriations,” said Cramer.

“I don’t think that would go over well with Susan, and I think he cares too much about Susan to do that … Particularly with Susan, I would have to put her in the top three of Mitch’s confidantes, and maybe the top one.”

The other most bandied about option: Taking reins of the Defense Subcommittee on Appropriations.

At a recent event in Washington on the state of Ukraine, military generals were overheard speaking about the dire stakes of Russian gains and pointed to McConnell as someone who understood that “the state of geopolitics is one of the most dangerous” in history, according to the former aide.

In that role, McConnell would oversee budgets for the military branches as well as the CIA and National Security Agency and steer Congress toward his goal of a $25 billion top-line increase in defense spending.

Of course, he’d also make sure that the Blue Grass Army Depot, Fort Knox and Fort Campbell are continually blessed with millions of investments.

“As long as Sen. McConnell is serving in Congress, he will continue to be one of the most effective and influential figures in Washington, which means Kentucky will continue to punch above its weight when it comes to federal policy and appropriations,” said Ashli Watts, president of the Kentucky Chamber.

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