Top Republican Senator ditches Norquist anti-tax pledge

[WestVirginiaRebel]

Fox News:

A top Republican senator is casting aside an anti-tax pledge he signed, saying that solving the country’s looming fiscal crisis is more important than honoring the decades-old pact.

Sen. Saxby Chambliss, R-Ga., broke ranks with other conservatives Wednesday when he made the remarks to a local television station. Chambliss is a member of the Gang of Six, a bipartisan group of senators tasked with finding a solution to the country's fiscal woes.

"I care more about my country than I do about a 20-year-old pledge," he told WMAZ-TV. "If we do it his way then we’ll continue in debt, and I just have a disagreement with him about that."

Congress and the White House face a year-end deadline to reach a deal that staves off an avalanche of tax increases and deep cuts in government programs – commonly referred to now as the “fiscal cliff.”

Chambliss signed the Taxpayer Protection Pledge, authored by conservative activist Grover Norquist and embraced by the majority of congressional Republican lawmakers. In it, Norquist, an anti-tax lobbyist and head of Americans for Tax Reform, does not allow for tax rates to rise.

Those who sign the pledge "solemnly bind themselves to oppose any and all tax increases," according to the group’s website, which states that 39 senators, including Chambliss, and 219 House members support it.

Chambliss acknowledged that distancing himself from the pledge might hurt him in his bid for re-election in 2014, but said he's not concerned about it.

"I don't worry about that because I care too much about my country,” he said. “I care a lot more about it than I do Grover Norquist."

"I'm willing to do the right thing and let the political consequences take care of themselves,” Chambliss added.

A senior aide to Chambliss confirmed the accuracy of his remarks to Fox News.

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Putting America first?

[RandyM]

He's making me ashamed to be a Georgian. I guess he's just another RINO.