People in the news

Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.)

Senate Minority Whip (since January 2008)

(Jonathan Ernst/
Getty Images)

Why He Matters

Frequently overshadowed by the senior senator from Arizona, Kyl prefers to work outside of the spotlight, and is often considered the more influential senator from his state - despite the fact that John McCain (R) is by far the more well-known.

Named one of Time magazine's best senators in 2006 for his ability to get things done, Kyl has moved up through the GOP leadership ranks, ascending to Senate minority whip when then-Whip Trent Lott (R-Mississippi) retired mid-term at the end of 2007.

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Background

At a Glance

Career History: Republican Conference chairman (January 2007-January 2008); Senate GOP Policy Committee chairman (2003 to 2007); U.S. Representative (1987 to 1995)
Birthday: April 25, 1942
Hometown: Phoenix, Ariz.
Alma Mater: University of Arizona, B.A. (political science), 1964; University of Arizona, LL.B., 1966
Spouse: Caryll
Religion: Presbyterian
DC Office: 730 Hart Senate Office Building, 202-224-4521

State/District Office: Phoenix, 602-840-1891; Tucson, 520-575-863
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Path to Power

Kyl was born in Nebraska and grew up in Iowa, from which his father, John Kyl, was a representative in Congress for a dozen years. The older Kyl took his son to Washington, D.C. for a summer in 1963 and coached him in public speaking, which helped prepare him for a life in politics.

Kyl went to college at the University of Arizona and decided to stay in the Grand Canyon State. After law school, he joined the Phoenix law firm Jennings, Strouss and Salmon, where he lobbied the Arizona legislature on water issues. He became president of the Phoenix Chamber of Commerce in 1985 and decided to run for the House in 1986 instead of becoming partner at his law firm.

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U.S. House

Kyl's deep ties to the business community helped him win the Republican primary over ex-Rep. John Conlan (R-Ariz.), who had lost his House seat in 1977 and was trying to return.

Kyl easily won election in the Republican-leaning 4th district and was reelected without much opposition. In 1994, vying for the seat vacated by Sen. Dennis DeConcini (D), who was retiring in large part because of the Keating Five scandal, Kyl won the Republican nomination easily. After an extremely close Democratic primary fight, which Rep. Sam Coppersmith (D) won by just 59 votes after a two-week recount, Kyl won the general contest handily.

When he joined the Senate, Kyl said he would likely serve for just two terms. In 2000, the Democrats didn't even challenge Kyl, and he won 79 percent of the vote against three non-major party candidates. His 2006 reelection campaign was slightly more difficult in large part because of Kyl's strong support for President George W. Bush and the war in Iraq. Real-estate developer Jim Pederson poured his own money into what ended up being the most expensive Senate race in Arizona history, but Kyl was heavily backed by the Republican establishment.

U.S. Senate

In the Senate, Kyl was a leading conservative voice and he was interviewed by Vice President Dick Cheney, a friend from Kyl's time in the House, for the job of vice president in 2000 when President George W. Bush was running. Since then, Kyl has been rumored to be a candidate for openings on the U.S. Supreme Court and as attorney general. Kyl became GOP Steering Committee chairman in 2001 and then served as GOP Senate Policy Committee chairman from 2003 through 2007.

In the 2006 elections, Republicans lost control of the U.S. Senate, and the Republican Conference chairman, then-Sen. Rick Santorum (R-Pa.), was one of the surprise casualties. Kyl took over as Republican Conference chairman.

When then-Senate Minority Whip Lott announced his retirement at the end of 2007, Kyl won tthat post without opposition. No other GOP senator from Arizona has held a leadership position as high as Kyl.

The Issues

Despite his role as head of the GOP conference, Kyl voted with the Republican Party just 83.2 percent of the time in the 110th Congress, In 2006, Kyl's ability to compromise won him a spot on Time's 10 Best Senator's list, which named him "The Operator" for his ability to get things done.

Yet Kyl is also considered a staunch conservative on most issues ranging from taxes to national defense and social programs.

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He believes in a strong national defense and has objected to America's participation in treaties like the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty and the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty out of concern that they would weaken U.S. defense.

"We're in a time of peace and prosperity and no one wants to think about conflict," he said in 2000. "People think we can solve all conflict by signing treaties, pieces of paper. That feeling existed in another era. We even signed a treaty - the Kellogg-Briand Pact in the late 1920s - that outlawed war. Well, it didn't work, and it doesn't work."

In 2005 and 2006, Kyl slowly tried to gather a filibuster-proof number of votes to try to repeal the estate tax, a favorite cause 10 among anti-tax conservatives, and worked behind the scenes to quietly kill President Bill Clinton's proposed Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty without the Democrats noticing what was happening.

Kyl was also a strong backer of a bill to help curb online gambling, saying it encouraged underage gambling and arguing that offshore casinos often have ties to international money laundering and organized crime.

National Security and Iraq

Since coming to Washington in 1986 and serving on the House Armed Services Committee, Kyl has been a strong proponent of more national security funding. In particular, he argued for missile defense, saying it is necessary to keep the U.S. safe from China and Russia. He even threatened to sue President Clinton in 1996, claiming he had ignored Congress' decision to build a missile- defense system.

On the Senate Judiciary Committee, Kyl is the ranking Republican on the Terrorism, Technology and Homeland Security subcommittee. He worked with Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) to introduce bills to crack down on biological weapons and create a terrorist watch database.

He made it easier for the government to use wiretaps to intercept the communications of suspected terrorists even before Sept. 11, 2001. "Everybody talks about trying to do something about terrorism, but little action ever ends up occurring," he said in October 2000. "It just seems to me we need to do whatever we can do."

When the wiretapping debate took center stage pos, Kyl was a key player, leading the charge to amend the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978. He pushed for a more expansive bill that allowed eavesdropping without warrants for domestic calls that didn't expire after four years. "Congress could not allow another day to pass that our intelligence community is rendered blind to the activities of al-Qaeda terrorists," Kyl said in 2008. "Despite its flaws, the bill approved today will provide the authority we need for intelligence gathering."

He was one of President Bush's strongest allies on the Iraq war, and supported the 2007 troop surge and funding not associated with a timeline for withdrawal.

Immigration

Kyl took a strong stance against "amnesty" for illegal immigrants during the explosive 2005-2006 immigration debate. His position put him at odds with his Arizona colleague, Sen. John McCain and the White House. In 2006, he proposed a bill with Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) that would have required illegal immigrants to leave the country and then apply for temporary work permits to return.

But in 2007, Kyl worked with McCain and liberal Sen. Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass.) on a more leninent bill. Conservatives who supported his opposition to amnesty, including Cornyn, criticized him for giving in, but Kyl stood by the bill, saying it was the best legislation possible in a Democratic Congress.

The Economy

Kyl supported the $700 billion bailout of Wall Street in the fall of 2008. As Senate minority whip, he was charged with rounding up votes for it after the House failed the legislation the first time around. But the Arizonan said that he understood constituents were skeptical of the bill, and he objected to the term "bailout."

Health-Care Reform

Kyl became a strong voice for the opposition when President Obama made overhauling the nation's health-care system his top priority in 2009-2010.

In June 2009, Kyl acknowledged the need for reform. But the Republican stressed "access" to care, saying he feared the Democrats' plan to create a government-funded insurance option would lead to long waits and rationing.

Along with other Republicans, Kyl instead released legislation to limit the use of comparative effectiveness research to determine the most effective medical treatments, which Obama funded in his 2010 budget.

Kyl joined Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) to introduce the 2009 "Preserving Access to Targeted, Individualized and Effective New Treatments and Services (PATIENTS) Act" to forbid the government from dictating the types of treatments doctors could.

The Network

Vice President Dick Cheney is a good friend from their days in the House together, and Cheney worked closely with Kyl during his tenure in the White House.

Kyl's chief of staff from 1997 to 2001, Laurie Fenton, took a job with the Commerce Department in 2001 and then became president of the Alliance for Lung Cancer in 2005. Kyl is also very close to Arizona's other senator, John McCain.

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