Bob Goodlatte began his seventh term representing the Sixth Congressional District of Virginia in 2004.

Mr. Goodlatte’s service to the people of the Sixth District began in 1977 when he became District Director for former Congressman Caldwell Butler. He served in this position for two years until 1979, and was responsible for helping folks across the District seeking assistance with or encountering problems from various federal agencies. In 1979, he founded his own private law practice in Roanoke. He was a partner in the law firm of Bird, Kinder and Huffman, working there from 1981 until taking office.

During his time in Congress, Mr. Goodlatte has made a name for himself as a leader on Internet and high-tech issues. He is Co-Chair of the Congressional Internet Caucus, and Chairman of the House Republican High Technology Working Group. He was also selected by Speaker Hastert to serve on the House Republican Cyber-Security Task Force.

Mr. Goodlatte serves on the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Immigration, Border Security, and Claims and as Vice Chairman of the Courts, the Internet, and Intellectual Property Subcommittee. The Judiciary Committee is well-suited to many of Mr. Goodlatte’s legislative priorities including cracking down on spammers, curbing illegal Internet gambling, and stemming the abuse of frivolous class action lawsuits.

He was given the distinct privilege of being chosen to serve as Chairman of the House Agriculture Committee in January 2003, becoming the first Agriculture Committee Chairman from Virginia since 1947.

Since being elected to serve as Chairman of the Agriculture Committee, Mr. Goodlatte has helped shepherd the President’s Healthy Forest Initiative through the Committee process and ultimately to final passage on the House floor. Mr. Goodlatte was a conferee on the 2002 Farm Bill, working to provide programs to rural Americans who are in need of a stable farm economy, while providing suburban and urban Americans with the safest, most abundant and most affordable food supply in the world.

Mr. Goodlatte, age 54, is a graduate of Washington and Lee University School of Law, and his undergraduate degree in Government was earned at Bates College in Lewiston, Maine. He and Maryellen, his wife of 32 years, live in Roanoke. They have two children, Jen and Rob.