Paul Ryan

Paul Ryan

Paul Davis Ryan (born January 29, 1970) is the United States Representative for Wisconsin's 1st congressional district and current chairman of the House Budget Committee. He was the Republican Party nominee for Vice President of the United States in the 2012 election.

He was born and raised in Janesville, Wisconsin, and is a graduate of Miami University in Ohio. He worked as an aide to legislators Bob Kasten, Sam Brownback, and Jack Kemp, and as a speechwriter before winning election to the U.S. House in 1998.

Ryan has developed budget plans that propose privatizing Medicare for those currently under the age of 55, funding Medicaid and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program through block grants to the states, and other changes. Ryan introduced these proposals in his spending plan for the House Budget Committee in April 2011 and in an updated version in March 2012.

On August 11, 2012, Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney announced that he had selected Ryan to be his vice-presidential running mate. Ryan was officially nominated at the Republican convention in Tampa on August 29, 2012.