GOP up-and-comer Paul Ryan will deliver the Republican response to President Obama’s State of the Union address next week, reports the Washington Post. Ryan is chair of the House Budget Committee, and he'll speak from the panel's hearing room to underscore a message of fiscal discipline, say party leaders. Ryan, who turns 40 next week as well, is known as a deficit hawk who was one of architects of the Republicans' Roadmap for America's Future. At Slate, Dave Weigel thinks it's a "smart and surprising" choice.
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