Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) on Thursday announced plans to shift into two key roles in the next Congress as he prepares to hand over the torch as the upper chamber’s top Republican.  McConnell, who first announced he was stepping down from his leadership post in February, said Thursday that he will be heading up the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Defense. “America’s national security interests face the gravest array of threats since the Second World War. At this critical moment, a new Senate Republican majority has a responsibility to secure the future of U.S. leadership and primacy,” McConnell, a longtime defense hawk, said in a statement.  McConnell said he looks “forward to working closely” with incoming Senate Appropriations Chair Susan Collins (Maine), who currently serves as top Republicans on the committee and its defense funding subcommittee. He also said he intends to head the Senate Rules Committee in the next Congress.  “Defending the Senate as an institution and protecting the right to political speech in our elections remain among my longest-standing priorities,” he said. “Ranking Member Deb Fischer has done an outstanding job advancing these causes, and I know she will remain a key partner in the committee’s ongoing work.” Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.), who was elected Senate majority leader earlier this month, will serve in the role in the coming Congress.