We begin today's program up on Capitol Hill. We're pleased to be joined by Congressman Bob Goodlott, Republican of Virginia who's got a balanced budget amendment that's expected to reach the House floor later this week. And tell our viewers first of all how this would work. There are a lot of different versions of the balanced budget amendment. Yours is a pretty clean one and a pretty straightforward one. Yes. Mine is with a couple of minor tweaks is identical to the 1995 version that passed the House with 300 votes including 72 Democrats and failed in the Senate by one vote. And it's very bipartisan. We've been working with a lot of Democrats across the aisle and dozens of them will vote for it. The question is can we get the fifth year so that we need to get to 290 votes for a balanced budget amendment. First time it's been voted on the House in 16 years. To that point Congressman I was just going to ask you about that. I just read that that Steny Hoyer is actually telling members or encouraging his members on the Democratic side to vote against this. What do you think your what expectation do you have about being able to get those 50 Democrats? Well I've been talking to the minority whip, Mr. Hoyer, about this all year long. He said that he's concerned that because the balanced budget amendment requires a super majority not to balance. In other words in years when there is a need to not have a balanced budget like national emergency of some kind he worries that he won't get the bipartisanship he needs but now he is whipping against what is clearly a very bipartisan bill. Poll show that 80% of Americans support this including 74% of Democrats in one poll taken in June of this year. So really this is an issue more than any other issue in the Congress where members deal directly with their constituents. The Republican conference was given the choice of different alternatives including two different ones that I have. They chose the one that has the best chance of passing and that's the message we have for our Democratic colleagues. This is an opportunity for real bipartisanship and to really connect directly with your constituents and all the other forces that are in play here including the wishes of members whipping in their leadership can be ignored because constituents understand this issue better than any other. They have to live with it themselves. Their state legislatures have a balanced budget requirement and that's why we think a lot of Democrats will join us on this vote. Now Congressman, as you know a lot of folks don't know though that part of the budget deal that was reached earlier this year on the debt limit would allow a way out of the draconian cuts, the sequestration cuts that we're all expecting or if the super committee isn't able to come up with it. If the balanced budget limit actually passes the house in the senate but I want to get your sense of the likelihood right now of a super committee coming through with something talking of talk of taxes being on the table even from Republicans are you seeing anything and what's emerging from the super committee that you think you could support? Well we're certainly very interested in what they're doing because we want to reduce this deficit as much as possible. We want to deal with entitlement reform which is not on the table to any significant extent with the sequestration and therefore there's a real opportunity there also to take a major step in reducing the deficit. The Republicans have put a plan on the table. It's one that I think deserves careful consideration and I hope that the Democrats on the committee at least some of them will respond to it because you have to have seven votes. You've got to have at least one member of the other party vote for any package in order to force the house and the senate to vote on it and you're exactly right if for any reason they do fail passage of a balanced budget amendment will ease the effect of the sequestration. It doesn't eliminate it but it does make it less painful if a balanced budget amendment passes. Now Congressman do you feel like you're personally going to be bound by the so-called Grover Norquist pledge when it comes to supporting something the super committee comes out with if there's additional revenues in there if there are any taxes increases that's something that you need to oppose because of that pledge? Well first of all each member of Congress has to look at this in terms of their relationship with their constituents and any plan that's put on the table has to be given careful consideration not just in terms of what it does right now but what it will do in the long term. We are facing major increases in taxes in January of 2013 just a little over a year from now and this is an opportunity to alter that path in a significant way. So you can look at it as a tax increase but you can also view it as an agreement that avoids major tax increases in the future and instead defines a different pathway that involves lower taxes than you'd have in 2013. So it sounds like you've been open to something that has new revenues then. Well I think all members of Congress ought to give all of these a careful look and then they have to decide for themselves does that really mean tax increases or does it mean a different pathway that avoids tax increases in the future? It comes when I want to move to politics for one second. Your state's governor, Republican, Bob McDonald, being talked about a lot now in circles as a potential VP nominee. Love to get you to weigh in. You think he's he's a good choice for the eventual Republican nominee. Bob McDonald would be a great participant in Republican ticket going into the elections in 2012. He's been an outstanding governor. He has great bipartisan support, approval rating, approaching 70%. He came in with a limited agenda of dealing with a budget deficit. He turned it into a surplus and he did it without raising taxes. I think that he gets a lot of approval on many fronts that would make him an attractive part of any Republican ticket. You think he'd help the Republican nominee win the state of Virginia? Oh very definitely. You could be that deciding factor. Very definitely. I also think that we have a great opportunity to win back Virginia. Last time was the first time in 40 years that Virginia did not go for the Republican candidate. I think the views of the electorate in Virginia about the president and his performance are very different than the expectations they had when he carried the state. With other candidates on the ballot we are likely to carry Virginia as well. But Bob McDonald would definitely seal the deal. All right. Congressman Bob Goodlott, Republican from Virginia. Thanks so much for being here. Really appreciate it. Thank you, Rick and Amy.