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, yet he is considered a staunch conservative on most issues ranging from taxes to national defense and social programs. In the 106th Congress, for example, he voted with Republicans 99 percent of the time. 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 the United States’ ability to defend itself. "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."
Kyl has earned a reputation as a hard worker who is willing to forgo credit for accomplishment. He worked tirelessly on a compromise bill that dealt with the thorny issue of water ownership in the desert state of Arizona. He worked for years with dozens of groups behind the scenes to find a multi-billion dollar compromise deal between two different Indian tribes and the state of Arizona. "The availability of water in Arizona drives so many other decisions and actions that we have to have certainty and agreement on how to deal with water issues if we're to prosper," he said. He also slowly gathered a filibuster-proof number of votes to try to repeal the estate tax throughout 2005 and 2006, a favorite topic 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. 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.
National Security and Iraq
Since coming to Washington in 1986 and serving on the Armed Services Committee in the House, Kyl has been a strong proponent of more funding for national security. In particular, he argued for missile defense, saying it is necessary to keep the United States 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 in 2007 and 2008, 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 calls within the United States and did not 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 after the bill passed 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 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 to 2006 immigration debate, and his position put him at odds with both 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, liberal Sen. Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass.) and others on an immigration bill that was more lenient than the one he had sponsored with Cornyn. Conservatives who supported his opposition to amnesty for those illegal immigrants already inside the U.S., including Cornyn, criticized him for giving in, but Kyl stood by the bill, saying it was the best bill possible under a Democratic Congress.
The Economy
Kyl supported the $700 billion bailout of Wall Street in the fall of 2008, and as Minority Whip, he was charged with rounding up votes for it in the Senate after the House failed to pass the bill. 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 the summer of 2009.
In June 2009, Kyl acknowledged the need for reform. But Kyl stressed "access" to care, saying he feared the Democrats' plan to create a government-funded insurance option would lead to long waits and rationing of care.
Kyl came out with legislation to limit the use of comparative effectiveness research, which Obama funded in his 2010 budget to determine the most effective medical treatments. Kyl joined Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) to introduce the Preserving Access to Targeted, Individualized and Effective New Treatments and Services (PATIENTS) Act of 2009, to forbid the government from dictating the types of treatments doctors could offer patients.
Shelby opposes the public option.
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