Paul Ryan life and biography

Paul Ryan, a native from Janesville, Rock County, Wisc. had his first election in the U.S. House of Representatives in 1998. Currently, Paul is a member of the Republican Party and has been ranked among the party's most influential voices on conservative economic policy.


Born and raised in Janesville, Ryan worked after graduating college as a marketing consultant for his family's Janesville-based business, Ryan Inc., a construction firm founded by his great-grandfather in 1884. Ryan also headed up his own consulting firm, and worked as an aide to former Sen. Robert Kasten Jr. until 1993. This whetted his appetite for politics, and in 1995, Ryan became Sen. Sam Brownback's legislative director, a position he held until 1997. Ryan also worked as a speechwriter for former drug "czar" William Bennett and helped former US housing secretary Jack Kemp in his bid for vice president.

When Republican House Rep. Mike Neumann announced he was running for Senate, Ryan decided to run for Wisconsin's first House District, which Neumann was vacating. Although the district is predominantly Democratic, Ryan, a conservative Republican, was also a home-grown fifth-generation resident of Janesville. Ryan first faced 35-year-old beer distributor Brian Morello in the Republican primary and after beating him went on to a 15-point victory over Democrat Lydia Spottswood in the general election. For the next four races, Ryan would defeat Democrat Jeffrey C. Thomas. In 2008, he defeated Democrat Marge Krupp.

One of the first things Ryan did as a Congressman was to convert an old truck into an office so he could hold office hours in the far reaches of his district. As a ranking Member of the Committee on the Budget, Ryan introduced HR 6110, "A Roadmap for America's Future" a comprehensive proposal that tackles the interrelated crises in health care, Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security, the tax code and the national deficit. In 2009, he joined other House leaders in introducing an alternative to President Barack Obama's budget proposal for 2010.

In 2011 he released "The Path to Prosperity," a 2012 budget resolution that he said would end "uncontrolled government spending" and "crushing levels of taxes." The plan proposed repealing the Affordable Health Care Act of 2010, turning Medicare into a private health insurance system, and lowering the taxes rates for top-earning individuals and corporations from 35 to 25%. Paul Ryan married the former Janna Little in December 2000. They have a daughter, Elizabeth (born 2002) and sons Samuel (born 2004) and Charles.

Read more