Sen. Jon Kyl, the key conservative involved in the immigration compromise, distanced himself from the agreement after the Senate agreed to an amendment yesterday limiting the number of guest workers from 600,000 to 200,000 per year. Congress Daily ($$) referred to Kyl’s concerns as a “deal breaker.”
The Arizona Republican has come under attack from conservatives for abandoning core principles to strike a deal with Sen. Teddy Kennedy (D.-Mass.) and the White House. While Kyl’s comments to Congress Daily were about the guest-worker vote yesterday, conservatives I spoke to on Capitol Hill said he is paying close attention to the base. They said Kyl understands the political ramifications of supporting the bill and could use the guest-worker vote as a way to distance himself from it.
The fact that yesterday’s amendment passed on 74-24 vote could doom any attempt by Kyl to add a so-called “escalator” clause — an important provision for bringing workers to his home state of Arizona.
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