Grover Norquist, Author of Antitax Pledge, Faces Big Test WASHINGTON - Next to the oath of office, it has been perhaps the most important commitment that Republicans in Congress can make. It is called simply "the Pledge," and its enforcer is such a fixture in the party that he is known simply by his first name, Grover. Signing it means a promise never, ever to vote for a tax increase. But the pledge and its creator, Grover Norquist, a 56-year-old conservative lobbyist, have never before faced a test as they do now. The federal deficit stands at $1 trillion. The social safety net continues to grow - and, in the case of Medicare and Social Security, remains hugely popular. And unless the two parties can agree on a fiscal plan before Jan. 1, hundreds of billions of dollars of tax increases will go into effect automatically, meaning that Congress does not even need to act for taxes to rise. The combination means that Mr. Norquist, whose long record of success is a rarity in Washington, finds himself in a tricky spot. Some top Republicans, including Speaker John A. Boehner, are saying they now agree with Democrats that the government must collect more tax revenue. Others have gone so far as to break with Mr. Norquist publicly. By Mr. Norquist's count, 219 House members - enough for a majority - and 39 senators have committed to the pledge. But some of those members who signed on, many of them years ago, have started to back away, apparently leaving him several votes shy of the majority he would need to block any tax increase. "A pledge is good at the time you sign it," said Representative Peter T. King, a New York Republican whose name still appears as a pledge signer on the Web site of Mr. Norquist's group, Americans for Tax Reform. In 1941, I would have voted to declare war on Japan. But each Congress is a new Congress. And I don't think you can have a rule that you're never going to raise taxes or that you're never going to lower taxes. I don't want to rule anything out. Mr. Norquist contends that every few years, several noisy Republicans say their support is squishy. Yet every time, he says proudly, the outcome is the same. "It's been 22 years since a Republican voted for a tax increase in this town," he said in a recent interview. This is not my first rodeo. Ask Republicans in Congress today what they think of the pledge, and many of them say that while they still subscribe to a low-tax view of government, they resent being hamstrung by a piece of paper they signed well before they were elected. Some of them are even saying they want out. "I'm frankly not concerned about the Norquist pledge," Senator Saxby Chambliss of Georgia said last week. Senator John McCain noted with a certain sense of satisfaction at an Atlantic magazine forum last week that "fewer and fewer people are signing this, quote, pledge." Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, at the same forum, said that with the federal debt at $16 trillion, closing tax loopholes and eliminating deductions have to be considered, "even though that may technically violate the pledge." He added, "Sign me up." Senator Tom Coburn of Oklahoma has called the pledge a "tortured vision of tax purity." Ted Yoho, who will represent part of northern Florida when the new House convenes in January, said: "I'll pledge allegiance to the flag. I'll pledge to be faithful to my wife. But he is one of a handful of House newcomers who declined to sign to Mr. Norquist's pledge and likened it to a New Year's resolution that many others will break. Mr. Norquist claims to have invented the idea for a no-new-taxes promise when he was a 12-year-old volunteer for Richard M. Nixon's 1968 presidential campaign. He is fond of evocative metaphors, like claiming he wants to reduce government "down to the size where we can drown it in the bathtub." Not honoring the pledge would cause grave damage to the Republican brand, he has said, likening it to a Coke can with a rat head in the bottom. The walls at the headquarters of his interest group are covered with signed copies from conservative heroes like Newt Gingrich, who warns Republicans to stick to their guns. Mr. Gingrich, like Mr. Norquist, argues that the pledge protects Republicans from agreeing to stealth tax increases that ultimately hurt them. "Every time I've watched Republicans try to be clever with Democrats on issues of taxation," Mr. Gingrich said last week, "Democrats have won." In the current talks with President Obama, Republicans have signaled an openness to increasing tax revenue by reducing deductions and credits, as long as income tax rates do not rise. That would still violate the pledge, which states that "any and all efforts" to increase taxes are inexcusable.