Now You're Talking

With grand bargains out of the question in this political environment, in practice the pledge means that Republicans oppose ending tax expenditures for special interests, since attempts to nibble around the tax code don't always come with offsets -- or they're designed to reduce the deficit. So last year, when Obama proposed ending tax credits for companies that outsource their work overseas, which would have saved well over $100 billion, Norquist and his organization, Americans for Tax Reform, opposed the move.

"[Our statement] did not defend the tax deduction," Norquist told reporters on a conference call last night. "If you want to get rid of it, just make it revenue neutral by not making it a tax increase."

Congressional Democrats, sensing opportunity, have now made the pledge a campaign issue. Last year, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee ran ads on the issue in a special election for New York's 23d District, where Democrat Bill Owens would defeat Doug Hoffman, whose Tea Party-fueled campaign overtook that of the original GOP nominee, Dede Scozzafrava.

Now they're using the attack in a Hawaii special election to replace former Democratic Representative Neil Abercrombie, who is in the hunt for the governor's mansion. The DCCC has launched ads against Republican Charles Djou that say he "signed a pledge that protects tax breaks for companies that send jobs overseas." That's a serious charge with unemployment sitting at nearly 10 percent.

Norquist and his allies responded last night with a conference call and statement attacking the DCCC, and Djou has complained about "mainland interference" in his race, but neither Norquist nor Djou has announced their opposition to the tax break or, in the spirit of the pledge, described offsets that would allow Djou to support overturning the credit. In the past, Norquist has attacked pledge signees who voted to end tax expenditures. For Norquist and his organization, "reform" just means tax cuts.