WASHINGTON—While the successor to Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) won’t officially be decided until after the November election, an issue that has bedeviled GOP lawmakers for years might in just the next few days decisively shape the outcome.
The issue is earmarks—in which individual senators and representatives set aside federal tax dollars for specific projects back home. More than 6,000 of the items, with a total value of $12.7 billion, are included in a “minibus” package of six appropriations bills made public on March 3.
