Special Collections at the University of Arizona announces the acquisition of the congressional papers of Jon Kyl, U.S. Senator for Arizona. 

Senator Kyl is serving his third and final term in the U.S. Senate after previously serving for eight years in the U.S. House of Representatives. He was elected unanimously by his colleagues in 2008 to serve as Republican Whip, the second-highest position in Senate Republican leadership.

Documenting his decades of public service, Senator Kyl’s congressional papers include biographical material, speeches, committee files, hearings and reports, press releases, photographs, and correspondence. 

Senator Kyl serves on the Senate Judiciary Committee, where he has played key roles in the confirmation of John Roberts as chief justice of the U.S. Supreme Court, and of Samuel Alito as associate justice. As a member of the Judiciary Committee, he has also helped write the landmark Crime Victims’ Rights Act, as well as important provisions of the Patriot Act, the Military Commissions Act, and other anti-terrorism laws.

As a member of the Finance Committee, he has been chief advocate of death-tax repeal and other pro-growth tax policies, including low tax rates on income, capital gains, and dividends. He has also been a strong proponent of step-by-step solutions for health-care reform that can improve access, lower costs, and preserve the sacred doctor-patient relationship.

The Wall Street Journal wrote in February 2011 that Senator Kyl “has made his mark the old fashioned way – by knowing what he is talking about.” The New York Times, in a February 2012 piece, called Kyl “the emissary of the Republican leadership, a gatekeeper of conservatism, and a bridge between his party’s most ardent conservatives and more pragmatic centrists.” His command of policy is why national television news networks often invite him to serve as a commentator on various national issues.

TIME magazine recognized Senator Kyl as one the “World’s 100 Most Influential People” in 2010, and as one of the 10 best senators in 2006. Capitol Hill’s newspaper, The Hill, identified him as one of the “25 hardest working lawmakers.”

Senator Kyl is an alumnus of the University of Arizona, earning a bachelor’s degree in 1964 and graduating from the James E. Rogers College of Law in 1966 where he was editor-in-chief of the Arizona Law Review.