Rep. Peter King (R-N.Y.) rebuked Grover Norquist's anti-tax pledge Sunday, declaring "the world has changed and the economic situation is different."

"If I were in Congress in 1941, I would have signed a declaration of war against Japan," said King on NBC's "Meet the Press." "I'm not going to attack Japan today.”

“We should not be taking iron-clad positions,” King said on fiscal cliff negotiations, adding he didn’t want to “pre-judge” any compromises that could be under discussion between Republican and Democratic leaders.

“I have faith in John Boehner to put together a good package. I think so far he’s been pretty conciliatory in his language,” the House Homeland Security chairman said. “I think John is going to do everything he can to avoid raising tax rates.”

King pointed to Republican President Ronald Reagan’s work with Democratic House Speaker Tip O’Neill (D--Mass.) as an example for bipartisan compromise.

"The bottom line is that we can't have sequestration, we can't go off the fiscal cliff," King said. "If Reagan and O'Neill can do it, Boehner and [Democrats] can do it."