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So joining me now from political, Representative Chris Van Hollen, Democrat from Maryland.

Congressman Van Hollen, good to have you on.

REP. CHRIS VAN HOLLEN, (D) MARYLAND: Good to be with you.

BALDWIN: Let's talk about your side. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, he has cancelled a planned a weekend session to work on the issues. So they don't have to go to work. We also got word that your House Democrats cancelled a planned news conference. Has your side been told, hey, turn the volume down. Let the president and Speaker Boehner continue to talk in private. And would you expect them to reach an agreement possibly as early as this weekend?

VAN HOLLEN: Brooke, I don't think anyone has been told to turn the volume down, but it makes sense to spend this weekend allowing these conversations to continue. As you know, the president has had different groups of congressional leaders down in the White House. Everyone is working overtime to try to put together a deal. But it's not a deal yet. Not by a long shot. Everyone will be working overtime this weekend to try and wrap it up.

BALDWIN: So working overtime this weekend, but we might have a deal by the end of the weekend, sir?

VAN HOLLEN: Well, that would be the hope. But again, there's still a whole lot of loose ends. These are not necessarily just small high items. They're some big issues. The bottom line that the president laid out today was America plays its bills. American families can't decide not to pay the mortgage, or the car payment. And the United States should not state -- uh you know, we're not going to pay our bills. Because that would have a terrible economic consequences in addition to setting the wrong example, and so we've got to get this done.

BALDWIN: Let me ask you about your party. We have been hearing about dissention among Democrats. And Senate Democrats shouted down the president's budget director, Jack Lew at a very heated meeting yesterday. Congressman Van Hollen, what was all the shouting about?

VAN HOLLEN: What happened, Brooke, was that in the middle of a Senate Democratic caucus there were news wire reports that the White House was about to enter into a deal that was unbalanced. There was only going cuts, and was not the balanced approach the president has laid out. He's made very clear that any deal will involve cuts, but will also require closing special interest tax loopholes and asking folks at the very top to share in responsibility for reducing the debt. And so when these wire reports suggested that it was going to be a totally one-sided approach, not a balanced approach, I think temperatures rose.

But there's a lot of rumors flying around the capital, as you might imagine. Most of them are just that, they're rumors. There's no agreement yet. People are working hard to get it done.

BALDWIN: Are congressional Democrats demanding that the president pursue an upfront tax on the top wage earners? And are you at all afraid that the White House will cave on that and accept higher taxes on the wealthy, only down the road, if certain debt reduction targets say they are not met?

VAN HOLLEN: Well, we've said the same thing that the president has said, which is that any balanced approach has to require a revenue component. And it has to be real. It has to be guaranteed. In other words, when you vote on the package that includes cuts, you have to know that the time that the revenue component will kick in, whether it kicks in today or tomorrow or some other time.

BALDWIN: Does it bother you if it kicked in some other time if it was simply a trigger mechanism? Does that offend you?

VAN HOLLEN: Well, the issue, Brooke, if there was 100 percent guarantee that revenue would be part of it, that's OK. But put it this way: The spending component should be dealt with in a similar manner as the revenue component. There should be symmetry there.

But the big issue is when you take that first vote, you have to have 100 percent ironclad assurances that the final product will be balanced. It can't just be we'll do the cuts now and have a wink and a nod hand shake for whatever comes later. That won't work. It has to all fit together. It has to be real balance. And that is what the president has said. But when reports came out-the other-yesterday, that it was just going to be all one way, that obviously got a lot of people upset. But again, these things, especially when you have negotiations that are going on where you have such tense feelings, you know, a couple of rumors flying through here can light a spark.

BALDWIN: It happens. But we know not to listen to those rumors, don't we, sir.

I know you are the leader of your caucus. Are you committed to selling your members on any deal here? I know you talk about symmetry, but any deal the president might make with Speaker Boehner?

VAN HOLLEN: Well, no. We are going to look at any deal that the president reaches. Every member reserves the right to vote yes or no. And certainly members of the House aren't going to blindly follow any deal that may be entered into by the White House. I don't think that they would expect us to. And that's why it's very important that when they take on those negotiations with the House Republicans, if they're going to be relying on House Democrats, they need to make sure that the deal will win over at least whatever support they need.

And you know, it's very important the White House not miscalculate in that sense. But, again, I want to stress the fact that the president has been consistent in saying that we need a balanced approach. He was very clear again today that he would not agree to a deal that did not have that kind of balanced and shared responsibility for reducing our deficit.

BALDWIN: He said pay the bill, pay the tab.

VAN HOLLEN: That's right.

BALDWIN: I listen to him in College Park, your state, sir. Congress Chris Van Hollen, thank you so much. VAN HOLLEN: Thank you.

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