Grover Norquist, the uber-conservative head of Americans for Tax Reform, is the one who made the now-famous slogan: shrink the government down to a size you can wrestle into the bathtub and drown it -- which has become the operating principle of Republicans.
He has promoted a pledge that nearly all Republicans in Congress have signed. It includes a pledge not to vote for any tax increase, nor close any loophole if it does not include using the money to reduce taxes elsewhere.
Today, Norquist told the editorial board of the Washington Post that letting the Bush tax cuts for the wealthy expire would not technically be voting for a tax increase. Therefore, it would not be a violation of the pledge.
In effect, he's giving conservatives in congress permission to allow the tax cuts to expire.
This is HUGE and could have real significance for reaching a bipartisan agreement on the budget fight that is holding up a decision about the debt ceiling.
Let's see how this plays out.
Ralph
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Norquist later went on TV, and his organization issued a clarifying statement, to say that he was quoted selectively. He didn't however deny the statement.
ReplyDeleteWhat he did was reassert his opposition to ending the tax cuts and said that Americans for Tax Reform would oppose ending them.
The damage was already done, however. Democrats leaped on the statement, and it may give at least a few Republicans the cover they need to do what needs to happen.