As the conversation about our national debt and deficit have taken center stage in the past year, one man increasingly stepping into the spotlight is Anti-tax crusader Grover Norquist and his organization, Americans for Tax Reform. Today’s news that the Super Committee will announce failure to achieve even a small reduction in the deficit, $1.2 trillion, many have pointed the towards Norquist and his organization's anti-tax pledge. They have stated that fidelity to the pledge has superceded the need for compromise to produce effective governance. But what is this pledge, and which members of congress have signed it?
Norquist started soliciting signers to the no-tax-increase pledge from state capitols to Capitol Hill in 1986 with the passage of the landmark Tax Reform Act. ATR currently has signatures from 238 House representatives, 41 Senators, 13 governors, and all of the GOP presidential candidates except former Utah Governor Jon Huntsman. Norquist, who is known for saying conservatives should want government so small they “can drown it in a bathtub,” has even collected several Democratic signatures. For Republicans, signing the pledge has become litmus test of a true conservative. The oath has evolved into a staple in every campaign, with the ATR providing ground troops and money to help conservative candidates secure a seat in Congress.
ALABAMA
AL-Sen Jeff Sessions (R)
AL-Sen Richard Shelby (R)
AL-01 Jo Bonner (R)
AL-02 Martha Roby (R)
AL-03 Mike Rogers (R)
AL-04 Robert Aderholt (R)
AL-05 Mo Brooks (R)
AL-06 Spencer Bachus (R)
ALASKA
AK-Sen Lisa Murkowski (R)
AK-AL Don Young (R)
ARIZONA
AZ-Sen Jon Kyl (R)
AZ-Sen John McCain (R)
AZ-01 Paul Gosar (R)
AZ-02 Trent Franks (R)
AZ-03 Ben Quayle (R)
AZ-05 David Schweikert (R)
AZ-06 Jeff Flake (R)
ARKANSAS
AR-Sen John Boozman (R)
AR-01 Rick Crawford (R)
AR-02 Tim Griffin (R)
AR-03 Steve Womack (R)
CALIFORNIA
CA-02 Wally Herger (R)
CA-03 Dan Lungren (R)
CA-04 Tom McClintock (R)
CA-19 Jeff Denham (R)
CA-21 Devin Nunes (R)
CA-22 Kevin McCarthy (R)
CA-24 Elton Gallegly (R)
CA-25 Buck McKeon (R)
CA-26 David Dreier (R)
CA-40 Ed Royce (R)
CA-41 Jerry Lewis (R)
CA-42 Gary Miller (R)
CA-44 Ken Calvert (R)
CA-45 Mary Bono Mack (R)
CA-46 Dana Rohrabacher (R)
CA-48 John Campbell (R)
CA-49 Darrell Issa (R)
CA-50 Brian Bilbray (R)
CA-52 Duncan D. Hunter (R)
COLORADO
CO-03 Scott Tipton (R)
CO-04 Corey Gardner (R)
CO-05 Doug Lamborn (R)
CO-06 Mike Coffman (R)
FLORIDA
FL-Sen Marco Rubio (R)
FL-01 Jeff Miller (R)
FL-02 Steve Southerland (R)
FL-04 Ander Crenshaw (R)
FL-05 Richard Nugent (R)
FL-06 Cliff Stearns (R)
FL-07 John Mica (R)
FL-08 Daniel Webster (R)
FL-09 Gus Bilirakis (R)
FL-10 Bill Young (R)
FL-12 Dennis Ross (R)
FL-13 Vern Buchanan (R)
FL-14 Connie Mack (R)
FL-15 Bill Posey (R)
FL-16 Tom Rooney (R)
FL-18 Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R)
FL-21 Lincoln Diaz-Balart (R)
FL-22 Allen West (R)
FL-24 Sandy Adams (R)
FL-25 David Rivera (R)
GEORGIA
GA-Sen Johnny Isakson (R)
GA-Sen Saxby Chambliss (R)
GA-01 Jack Kingston (R)
GA-03 Lynn Westmoreland (R)
GA-06 Tom Price (R)
GA-08 Austin Scott (R)
GA-09 Tom Graves (R)
GA-10 Paul Broun (R)
GA-11 Phil Gingrey (R)
IDAHO
ID-Sen Mike Crapo (R)
ID-Sen James Risch (R)
ID-01 Raul Labrador (R)
ID-02 Michael Simpson (R)
ILLINOIS
IL-Sen Mark Kirk (R)
IL-06 Peter Roskam (R)
IL-08 Joe Walsh (R)
IL-10 Robert Dold (R)
IL-11 Adam Kinzinger (R)
IL-13 Judy Biggert (R)
IL-14 Randy Hultgren (R)
IL-15 Tim Johnson (R)
IL-16 Don Manzullo (R)
IL-17 Bobby Schilling (R)
IL-18 Aaron Schock (R)
IL-19 John Shimkus (R)
INDIANA
IN-Sen Dan Coats (R)
IN-03 Marlin Stutzman (R)
IN-04 Todd Rokita (R)
IN-05 Dan Burton (R)
IN-06 Mike Pence (R)
IN-08 Larry Buschon (R)
IN-09 Todd Young (R)
IOWA
IA-04 Tom Latham (R)
IA-05 Steve King (R)
KANSAS
KS-Sen Jerry Moran (R)
KS-Sen Pat Roberts (R)
KS-01 Tim Huelskamp (R)
KS-02 Lynn Jenkins (R)
KS-04 Michael Pompeo (R)
KENTUCKY
KY-Sen Mitch McConnell (R)
KY-Sen Rand Paul (R)
KY-01 Ed Whitfield (R)
KY-02 Brett Guthrie (R)
KY-04 Geoff Davis (R)
KY-05 Hal Rogers (R)
KY-06 Ben Chandler (D)
LOUISIANA
LA-Sen David Vitter (R)
LA-01 Steve Scalise (R)
LA-03 Jeffery Landry (R)
LA-04 John Fleming (R)
LA-05 Rodney Alexander (R)
LA-06 Bill Cassidy (R)
LA-07 Charles Boustany (R)
MARYLAND
MD-01 Andy Harris (R)
MD-06 Roscoe Bartlett (R)
MASSACHUSETTS
MA-Sen Scott Brown (R)
MICHIGAN
MI-01 Dan Benishek (R)
MI-02 Bill Huizenga (R)
MI-03 Justin Amash (R)
MI-04 Dave Camp (R)
MI-06 Fred Upton (R)
MI-07 Tim Walberg (R)
MI-08 Mike Rogers (R)
MI-10 Candice Miller (R)
MI-11 Thad McCotter (R)
MINNESOTA
MN-02 John Kline (R)
MN-03 Erik Paulsen (R)
MN-06 Michele Bachmann (R)
MN-08 Chip Cravaack (R)
MISSISSIPPI
MS-Sen Roger Wicker (R)
MS-01 Alan Nunnelee (R)
MS-03 Gregg Harper (R)
MS-04 Steven Palazzo (R)
MISSOURI
MO-Sen Roy Blunt (R)
MO-02 Todd Akin (R)
MO-04 Vicky Hartzler (R)
MO-06 Sam Graves (R)
MO-07 Billy Long (R)
MO-08 Jo Ann Emerson (R)
MO-09 Blaine Luetkemeyer (R)
MONTANA
MT-AL Dennis Rehberg (R)
NEBRASKA
NE-Sen Mike Johanns (R)
NE-Sen Ben Nelson (D)
NE-01 Jeff Fortenberry (R)
NE-02 Lee Terry (R)
NE-03 Adrian Smith (R)
NEVADA
NV-Sen Dean Heller (R)
NV-02 Mark Amodei (R)
NV-03 Joe Heck (R)
NEW HAMPSHIRE
NH-Sen Kelly Ayotte (R)
NH-01 Frank Guinta (R)
NH-02 Charlie Bass (R)
NEW JERSEY
NJ-01 Robert Andrews (D)
NJ-02 Frank LoBiondo (R)
NJ-03 Jon Runyan (R)
NJ-04 Chris Smith (R)
NJ-05 Scott Garrett (R)
NJ-07 Leonard Lance (R)
NJ-11 Rodney Frelinghuysen (R)
NEW MEXICO
NM-02 Steve Pearce (R)
NEW YORK
NY-03 Peter King (R)
NY-09 Bob Turner (R)
NY-13 Michael Grimm (R)
NY-19 Nan Hayworth (R)
NY-20 Chris Gibson (R)
NY-25 Ann Marie Buerkle (R)
NY-29 Tom Reed (R)
NORTH CAROLINA
NC-Sen Richard Burr (R)
NC-02 Renee Ellmers (R)
NC-03 Walter Jones Jr. (R)
NC-05 Virginia Foxx (R)
NC-06 Howard Coble (R)
NC-09 Sue Myrick (R)
NC-10 Patrick McHenry (R)
NORTH DAKOTA
ND-AL Rick Berg (R)
OHIO
OH-Sen Rob Portman (R)
OH-01 Steve Chabot (R)
OH-02 Jean Schmidt (R)
OH-03 Mike Turner (R)
OH-04 Jim Jordan (R)
OH-05 Bob Latta (R)
OH-06 Bill Johnson (R)
OH-07 Steve Austria (R)
OH-08 John Boehner (R)
OH-12 Pat Tiberi (R)
OH-14 Steve LaTourette (R)
OH-15 Steve Stivers (R)
OH-16 James Renacci (R)
OH-18 Bob Gibbs (R)
OKLAHOMA
OK-Sen Tom Coburn (R)
OK-Sen Jim Inhofe (R)
OK-01 John Sullivan (R)
OK-03 Frank Lucas (R)
OK-04 Tom Cole (R)
OK-05 James Lankford (R)
OREGON
OR-02 Greg Walden (R)
PENNSYLVANIA
PA-Sen Pat Toomey (R)
PA-03 Mike Kelly (R)
PA-05 Glenn Thompson (R)
PA-06 Jim Gerlach (R)
PA-07 Pat Meehan (R)
PA-08 Michael Fitzpatrick (R)
PA-09 Bill Shuster (R)
PA-10 Thomas Marino (R)
PA-11 Lou Barletta (R)
PA-15 Charlie Dent (R)
PA-16 Joseph Pitts (R)
PA-18 Tim Murphy (R)
SOUTH CAROLINA
SC-Sen Jim DeMint (R)
SC-Sen Lindsey Graham (R)
SC-01 Tim Scott (R)
SC-02 Joe Wilson (R)
SC-03 Jeff Duncan (R)
SC-04 Trey Gowdy (R)
SC-05 Mick Mulvaney (R)
SOUTH DAKOTA
SD-Sen John Thune (R)
SD-AL Kristi Noem (R)
TENNESSEE
TN-Sen Bob Corker (R)
TN-Sen Lamar Alexander (R)
TN-01 Phil Roe (R)
TN-02 John Duncan (R)
TN-03 Chuck Fleischman (R)
TN-04 Scott DesJarlais (R)
TN-06 Diane Black (R)
TN-07 Marsha Blackburn (R)
TN-08 Stephen Fincher (R)
TEXAS
TX-Sen John Cornyn (R)
TX-Sen Kay Bailey Hutchison (R)
TX-01 Louie Gohmert (R)
TX-02 Ted Poe (R)
TX-03 Sam Johnson (R)
TX-04 Ralph Hall (R)
TX-05 Jeb Hensarling (R)
TX-06 Joe Barton (R)
TX-07 John Culberson (R)
TX-08 Kevin Brady (R)
TX-10 Michael McCaul (R)
TX-11 Mike Conaway (R)
TX-12 Kay Granger (R)
TX-13 Mac Thornberry (R)
TX-14 Ron Paul (R)
TX-17 Bill Flores (R)
TX-19 Randy Neugebauer (R)
TX-21 Lamar Smith (R)
TX-22 Pete Olson (R)
TX-23 Francisco Canseco (R)
TX-24 Kenny Marchant (R)
TX-26 Michael Burgess (R)
TX-27 Blake Farenthold (R)
TX-31 John Carter (R)
TX-32 Pete Sessions (R)
UTAH
UT-Sen Michael Lee (R)
UT-Sen Orrin Hatch (R)
UT-01 Rob Bishop (R)
UT-03 Jason Chaffetz (R)
VIRGINIA
VA-02 Scott Rigell (R)
VA-04 Randy Forbes (R)
VA-05 Robert Hurt (R)
VA-06 Bob Goodlatte (R)
VA-07 Eric Cantor (R)
VA-09 H. Morgan Griffith (R)
WASHINGTON
WA-03 Jaime Herrera (R)
WA-04 Doc Hastings (R)
WA-05 Cathy McMorris (R)
WA-08 Dave Reichert (R)
WEST VIRGINIA
WV-01 David McKinley (R)
WV-02 Shelley Moore Capito (R)
WISCONSIN
WI-Sen Ron Johnson (R)
WI-01 Paul Ryan (R)
WI-05 Jim Sensenbrenner (R)
WI-06 Tom Petri (R)
WI-07 Sean Duffy (R)
WI-08 Reid Ribble (R)
WYOMING
WY-Sen Mike Enzi (R)
WY-AL Cynthia Lummis (R)
6 GOP U.S. House Non-Pledge Signers:
NY-24 Richard Hanna
GA-07 Rob Woodall
PA-19 Todd Russell Platts
VA-01 Rob Wittman
VA-10 Frank Wolf
KS-03 Kevin Yoder
7 GOP U.S. Senate Pledge Non-Signers:
IN-Sen Richard Lugar
IA-Sen Charles Grassley
ME- Sen Olympia Snowe
ME- Sen Susan Collins
MS-Sen Thad Cochran
WY- Sen John Barrasso
ND-Sen John Hoeven
2 Dem U.S. House Pledge Signers:
NJ-01 Robert Andrews
KY-06 Ben Chandler
1 Dem U.S. Senate Pledge Signer:
NE-Sen Ben Nelson
