Mitch McConnell Wants Military Buildup After Big Win on Ukraine Aid

WASHINGTON—Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R., Ky.), fresh off a big bipartisan victory on overseas aid that reasserted America’s muscular role in the world, said he wants to pump up military spending to guard against new challenges from China, Russia and Iran.

“This is a skirmish in a larger war,” McConnell, who this week helped deliver a majority of Republican votes for a long-delayed $95.3 billion package of aid to Ukraine, Israel and other countries, said in an interview. “And so I think that requires ongoing attention, which is what is going to be my major interest here,” he said, pointing to the 1980s buildup under President Ronald Reagan.