'He’s going to be beaten': Senate Republicans directly challenge McConnell on major issue

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Kentucky) is facing pushback from members of his own caucus in a dispute over the latest foreign aid package, and it's still unclear whether McConnell will be able to win them over to his side.

Currently, Republicans in both the House of Representatives and the US Senate are divided over the latest proposed aid package to Ukraine. While McConnell wants funding for Ukraine grouped in with other foreign aid for Israel and Taiwan, other Republicans are preferring to hold separate votes on various aid packages. McConnell told the Wall Street Journal that he's willing to go to the mat for Ukraine, saying its importance "rises above your typical domestic policy dispute."

"I think that the country’s future, and the Western world’s future, depends upon winning this," McConnell said. "It’s going to take a long time to determine how that turns out. But I think this is the biggest issue in the world right now."

The Journal reported Thursday that the influence of 81-year-old McConnell — who has been in Senate leadership for two decades — has been waning throughout 2023, with various health-related complications keeping him away from Washington. Earlier this year, McConnell suffered a concussion after a fall, resulting in a six-week recovery that prevented him from casting Senate votes. The Senate Republican leader also experienced two public episodes in which he froze mid-speech. Other senior Senate Republicans have already begun their efforts to replace him as GOP leader following his eventual retirement.

His power has also appeared to have weakened in his home state, as his protégé former Attorney General Daniel Cameron — who previously served as McConnell's legal counsel — lost the November 7 gubernatorial election to incumbent Democratic Governor Andy Beshear. Kentucky's junior US senator is also bucking him on Ukraine.

"He’s going to be beaten on this," Sen. Rand Paul (R-Kentucky) told the Journal. "The big kitchen sink approach to having Ukraine, Taiwan, Israel, border — all that huge bill — I think it’s dead on arrival."

Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) also admitted that "there is not unanimity on Ukraine in our conference," emphasizing that McConnell "understands how important [Ukraine funding] is and where the votes need to come from."

READ MORE: 'The race is happening': Top Senate Republicans quietly seeking to replace McConnell as GOP leader

Despite McConnell's apparent struggles to control his caucus, Kentucky's senior US senator nonetheless took credit for Sen. Joe Manchin's (D-West Virginia) recent retirement announcement, saying Republicans were "one step closer to having a majority" in 2024.