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They’ve only met once, but Sen. Jon Kyl is already threatening to quit the deficit busting supercommittee if the panel pushes more defense cuts. “I’m off the committee” if there are deeper cuts to the military, Kyl warned at a forum sponsored by several conservative think tanks, including AEI, the Foreign Policy Institute, and the Heritage Foundation. ...Kyl and others are also deeply worried about the so-called “trigger” in the debt-limit law passed last month. If the supercommittee fails to reach between $1.2 trillion and $1.5 trillion in spending cuts, there will be automatic cuts in defense spending and Medicare....

0 inShare 0digg email print On June 18, 2010, Arizona Republican Senator Jon Kyl told the audience at a North Phoenix Tea Party town hall meeting that during a private, one-on-one meeting with President Obama in the Oval Office, the President told him, regarding securing the southern border with Mexico, “The problem is, . . . if we secure the border, then you all won’t have any reason to support ‘comprehensive immigration reform.’” [Audible gasps were heard throughout the audience.] Sen. Kyl continued, “In other words, they’re holding it hostage. They don’t want to secure the border unless and until...

Who's been cozying up to the members of the new Congressional super committee? With the committee set to decide on a whopping $1.5 trillion in federal deficit reduction this fall, lobbyists and corporations are trying to figure out which industries are best connected to the 12 members of the new panel. You can bet that those connections will be pressed to the limit in coming months as companies and sectors scramble to ensure that federal spending they like and tax breaks they depend on aren't slated for elimination. As it looks at the new committee members, Wall Street may like...

WASHINGTON, Aug 11 (Reuters) - Here is a look at some of the top donors to election campaigns for the 12 members of the U.S. Congress named to a deficit-fighting "super committee." Known as the Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction, the panel is expected to be the most heavily lobbied body in Washington ahead of its Nov. 23 deadline for making recommendations on $1.5 trillion in additional budget savings. Unless specified, donations below combine members' campaign committees and leadership PACs (political action committees). Data is from www.opensecrets.org. SENATE DEMOCRATS Patty Murray of Washington state * Software giant Microsoft Corp...

The 12 lawmakers appointed to a new congressional supercommittee charged with tackling the nation's fiscal problems have received millions in contributions from special interests with a direct stake in potential cuts to federal programs, an Associated Press review of federal campaign data has found. The newly appointed members — six Democrats and six Republicans — have received more than $3 million total during the past five years in donations from political committees with ties to defense contractors, health care providers and labor unions. That money went to their re-election campaigns, according to AP's review. Supporters say the lawmakers were picked...

LOUISVILLE, KY – U.S. Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell Wednesday announced his appointments to the 12-member Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction tasked with reducing the deficit by $1.5 trillion more than the cuts already identified in the Budget Control Act. McConnell appointed Sens. Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.), Pat Toomey (R-Pa.), and Rob Portman (R-Ohio). “Chronic joblessness, out-of-control deficits and debt, and an unprecedented credit downgrade represent an historic challenge but also an historic opportunity for lawmakers in Washington to show they can work together on a plan that puts America back on the path to prosperity. All three of these...

Senator John Kyl: Tea Party Republicans remind me a lot of Senator Barack Obama who also refused to raise the debt limit.

U.S. intelligence agencies concluded in a classified report late last year that Russia’s military intelligence was responsible for a bomb blast that occurred at an exterior wall of the U.S. Embassy in Tbilisi, Georgia, in September. ... The Times reported last week that Shota Utiashvili, director of information and analysis for the Georgian Interior Ministry, said the embassy blast and others in his country were the work of a Russian military intelligence officer named Maj. Yevgeny Borisov. “It is written without hedges, and it confirms the Georgian account,” said one U.S. official familiar with the U.S. intelligence report. This official...

<p>GOP Senators and Speaker Boehner set to cave and raise taxes. This is the start of the set up.</p>

(Washington, DC) -- Republican congressional leaders are reportedly agreeing to billions of dollars in revenue increases as federal deficit discussions continue. Republican Senator Jon Kyl announced the move today saying revenue increases don't necessarily mean tax hikes. On the Senate floor Kyl said, quote, "If the government sells something and gets revenue from it, that's revenue." He also suggested user fees for government services could provide additional revenue. He says all the revenue increases Republicans have agreed to amount to between 150 billion and 200 billion dollars.

“Budgets are about our priorities and our values,” says U.S. Sen. Tim Johnson, D-S.D., in a recent newsletter. Johnson is certainly right, and as Congress and the president wrestle with an unprecedented budget crisis, it's becoming more and more apparent exactly what our elected officials do value. Particularly instructive: the showdown earlier this month over raising the debt ceiling. Before agreeing to raise the ceiling, congressional Republicans insisted on a rider eliminating funding for Planned Parenthood - a measure President Barack Obama and Senate Democrats said they would never allow. Neither side looked willing to back down, and we hovered...

Sen. Kyl actually said 90% of what Planned Parenthood does is abortions.

(CNSNews.com) – A Muslim civil rights activist told Sen. Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.) that she stands by the advice posted on her Web site that tells Muslims not to speak with the FBI or other law enforcement personnel unless a lawyer is present. Kyl said he was “stunned” that Farhana Khera, president and executive director of Muslim Advocates, would “issue those kind of instructions,” given the connection between many domestic terror attacks and radical Islam and the importance of cooperation from American Muslims to help thwart those attacks. “I would think that Muslim Americans would feel a special obligation to...

PHOENIX — A federal judge in Phoenix is set to formally take a seat on the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. A ceremony is set for Judge Mary Murguia on Friday at the federal courthouse in Phoenix. Among those attending will be U.S. Sen. Jon Kyl and Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano.

In light of Jon Kyl's surprise retirement announcement last week, conservatives are presented with a unique opportunity to elect an unabashed conservative from the deep red state of Arizona.  The Republicans have super majorities in both houses of the legislature and control every statewide elected office.  As Arizona becomes more conservative, there is a plethora of solid candidates, which if elected, would serve as an improvement over Jon Kyl.  Once the Democrats destroyed Arizona's borders and opposed SB 1070, they were banished from electoral politics across the state.  Presumably, there would be no viable chance for the Democrats to turn...

CPAC presidential straw poll results aside, Karl Rove, former Senior Adviser to President George W. Bush says the GOP side of the 2012 presidential field is "a wide open contest." Speaking to Fox News on Sunday, Rove classified the race as "the first Republican contest in modern history in which there is no presumptive frontrunner." While Rove doesn't currently see a clear cut choice for the GOP, he did admit the nominee is likely to be a better known name, naming several examples including "Governor Romney, Sarah Palin and Governors Barbour, Daniels and Pawlenty." When asked how high profile political...

A Kyl-less Arizona U.S. Senate race is a bit like the open race in Texas. There is a wide, deep bench of ambitious Republican talent -- John Shadegg, Jeff Flake, state legislators who have now run the place with supermajorities. So this is significant -- the Club for Growth is already urging Flake to make the race. (Conservative donors have, for years, floated the possibility of Flake challenging or replacing John McCain, who isn't up again until 2016.)

Any discussion of who’s likely to succeed outgoing Sen. Jon Kyl of Arizona needs to factor in the following: If Rep. Gabrielle Giffords wants the seat, it’s hers. The three-term Democratic congresswoman explored the idea of running for the Senate seat in the event of Mr. Kyl‘s retirement before she was shot Jan. 8 at a constituent meet-and-greet in Tucson. Her rehabilitation from a gunshot wound to the head reportedly is proceeding faster than expected. Mr. Kyl announced Thursday that he would not seek a fourth term in 2012. If Ms. Giffords decides she’s game for a Senate run and...

Breaking news on Fox, any idea why?

Sen. Jon Kyl will announce his plans to retire at a press conference in Arizona later today, a source confirms to POLITICO. half a minute ago via POLITICO API