( CNN ) -- Who is Grover Norquist ? He 's a private citizen , a conservative lobbyist , the author of the Taxpayer 's Protection Pledge and president of Americans for Tax Reform . His idea of tax reform is no more tax increases ever again . And no closed loopholes unless matched by cuts in government spending . In the 113th Congress , the one just elected that will begin in January , 219 of 234 Republicans in the House signed his tax pledge ; in the Senate , nine of 41 Republican senators signed it . By contrast , before the 112th Congress , which is still in session , 248 representatives and 41 senators signed it . The drop in support has brought the pledge into the media limelight . Norquist says the pledge was made to the American people . But Norquist is the sole enforcer of the pledge , which he keeps in a fireproof safe in his office . No one has dared to challenge his self-appointed role as enforcer on behalf of American voters . Until this past week . Opinion : Who 's afraid of Grover Norquist ? Four Republican senators , among them South Carolina 's Lindsey Graham , as well as Rep. Peter King of New York , said they would willingly ditch their pledge , in Lindsey 's words , `` for the good of the country . '' In an equally significant move , Oklahoma Rep. Tom Cole of the Republican Whip team told House Speaker John Boehner that he thought the Republicans should join President Barack Obama and immediately pass a tax extension for 98 % of Americans who earn under $ 250,000 . These declarations from Republican leaders are like political dynamite . And like well-placed dynamite , they might begin to break the logjam preventing effective leadership and legislation in Congress . Norquist , of course , does n't think so . His tax pledge has bound most elected Republicans to him for 25 years . When King said that he felt his pledge was only for one Congress , Norquist compared the pledge to marriage vows , hinting King 's wife should be worried . ( I could n't find `` till death do us part '' in the pledge . But then , I 'm not a Republican ) . Your money : Is Grover 's power overrated ? King replied that Norquist was `` being a lowlife , '' words that caused almost an audible gasp among Republicans . You see , Norquist 's pledge is n't about money ; it 's about loyalty . Next to Mitch McConnell 's pledge to defeat Obama in 2012 , Grover Norquist is the man most responsible for Republican lockstep voting and gridlock in Washington . That top Republicans are willing to openly defy Norquist 's pledge and that any are willing to buck McConnell and Boehner are seminal events in recent American history . It means some Republican office holders are actually listening to what the voters said in the 2012 elections : Help the middle class , work together , stop the finger-pointing . But McConnell and his collaborators are proceeding as if the 2012 election never happened . He and other Republican `` leaders '' apparently intend to extend the Republican campaign , disregarding the election and the people 's mandate . They intend to push the Republican agenda that voters overwhelmingly rejected at the voting booth and in post-election polls . Boehner claims that Congress received its own mandate . But Republicans lost seats in the House and the Senate that they had expected to win . Besides , as Harry Truman used to say , `` The president is the only elected official who represents all the people . '' Read more : No-tax pledge has survived challenges before . John Podesta , President Bill Clinton 's chief of staff , in writing about the fiscal cliff , said , `` Obama did n't win just because of demographics : He won on the economy . ... The electorate understood that a vote for Obama was a vote for policies that would help the middle class and the working poor . '' Furthermore , `` the public has joined the majority of leading economists in recognizing that a strong middle class , not ever more generous benefits for the wealthy , as the true engine of economic growth . '' The Peter Kings , Lindsey Grahams and Tom Coles of the Republican Party get it . There are n't enough cuts to offset $ 1 trillion in lost taxes from the excessive tax breaks the wealthy were given . The alternative is to harm our national security , weaken our defenses and cause some Americans to literally go without food . The Republican budget that passed the House , but not the Senate , before the election would cut food stamps as excess spending for unemployed parents . Extending the lesser tax breaks for 98 % of all Americans is , indeed , a first order of business . Or as Cole said , `` It 's the right thing to do . '' There is money for these things . First , though , Republicans must break Norquist 's insane hold on their party . More Republicans must put their country before someone else 's agenda , and their Pledge of Allegiance before `` The Pledge '' to Norquist . It 's merely a handful right now , but it looks as if the 75 % of voters who approved of Obama 's economic approach in exit polls to help the middle class and working poor are getting a voice in Congress . The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of Donna Brazile .
Grover Norquist 's tax pledge calls for no more tax increases ever . Donna Brazile : It 's seismic that some GOP leaders are willing to defy his pledge . She says Norquist 's tax pledge has bound most elected Republicans to him for 25 years . Brazile : Norquist is the man most responsible for GOP gridlock in Washington .