Cole says Republicans would improve their position by joining hands with the president. Cole: Join with Obama on quick deal

Republican Rep. Tom Cole urged colleagues in a private session Tuesday to vote to extend the Bush tax rates for all but the highest earners before the end of the year — and to battle over the rest later.

The Oklahoma Republican said in an interview with POLITICO that he believes such a vote would not violate Grover Norquist’s anti-tax pledge and that he’s not alone within Republican circles.


At a meeting of the House GOP whip team earlier in the day, he made the case that Republicans would strengthen their position by joining hands with President Barack Obama now to give most taxpayers what he calls “an early Christmas present” of ensuring their taxes don’t go up on Jan. 1.

Cole’s position is striking because he’s hardly a “squish” — Norquist’s term for a weak-kneed lawmaker — when it comes to Republican orthodoxy. Cole served as chairman of the National Republican Congressional Committee and in other official posts within the party.

He might also provide cover for other Republicans looking to make an agreement to avoid a sharp fall off the so-called fiscal cliff.

“I think we ought to take the 98 percent deal right now,” he said of freezing income tax rates for all but the top 2 percent of earners. “It doesn’t mean I agree with raising the top 2. I don’t.”

Instead, he told POLITICO, Republicans should fight the president over tax rates for the top earners after everyone else is taken care of. That would rob the president of the argument that Republicans are holding up tax cuts for all but the top earners, Cole said.

“Some people think that’s our leverage in the debate. It’s the Democrats’ leverage in the debate,” he said.

Cole said he’s likely to end up supporting his leadership when a package is put on the floor, but he also said there are other lawmakers in his camp, as well as still others who have been willing to listen.

He was also adamant that his tack would not run afoul of the Norquist pledge, which binds signers not to join any effort to raise income tax rates, among other things. Rather than raising taxes, he said, Republicans would be voting to lower them for most folks and do nothing — which would result in an increase — for the rest.

“I don’t see that as a violation of my pledge,” he said.