Joseph Robinette "Joe" Biden, Jr. (pronunciation: /ˈ dʒ oʊ s ɨ f r ɒ b ɨ ˈ n ɛ t ˈ b aɪ d ən /; born November 20, 1942) is the 47th and current Vice President of the United States, jointly elected with President Barack Obama. He is a member of the Democratic Party and was a United States Senator from Delaware from January 3, 1973 until his resignation on January 15, 2009, following his election to the Vice Presidency.

Biden was born in Scranton, Pennsylvania and lived there for ten years before moving to Delaware. He became an attorney in 1969, and was elected to a county council in 1970. Biden was first elected to the Senate in 1972 and became the sixth-youngest senator in U.S. history. He was re-elected to the Senate six times, was the fourth most senior senator at the time of his resignation, and is the 15th-longest serving Senator in history. Biden was a long-time member and former chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee. His strong advocacy helped bring about U.S. military assistance and intervention during the Bosnian War. He opposed the Gulf War in 1991. He voted in favor of the Iraq War Resolution in 2002, but later proposed resolutions to alter U.S. strategy there. He has also served as chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, dealing with issues related to drug policy, crime prevention, and civil liberties, and led creation of the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act and Violence Against Women Act. He chaired the Judiciary Committee during the contentious U.S. Supreme Court nominations of Robert Bork and Clarence Thomas.

Biden unsuccessfully sought the Democratic presidential nomination in 1988 and 2008, both times dropping out early in the race. Barack Obama selected Biden to be the Democratic Party nominee for Vice President in the 2008 U.S. presidential election. Biden is the first Roman Catholic and the first Delawarean to become Vice President of the United States. As Vice President, Biden has been heavily involved in Obama's decision-making process and held the oversight role for infrastructure spending from the Obama stimulus package aimed at counteracting the late-2000s recession. His ability to negotiate with Congressional Republicans played a key role in bringing about the bipartisan deals that resulted in the Tax Relief, Unemployment Insurance Reauthorization, and Job Creation Act of 2010 that resolved a taxation deadlock and the Budget Control Act of 2011 that resolved the United States debt ceiling crisis.

Paul Ryan
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Jump to: navigation, search For other people named Paul Ryan, see Paul Ryan (disambiguation).

Paul Ryan

Member of the U.S. House of Representatives
from Wisconsin's 1st district

Incumbent

Assumed office
January 3, 1999

Preceded by
Mark Neumann

Chairperson of the House Budget Committee

Incumbent

Assumed office
January 3, 2011

Preceded by
John Spratt

Personal details

Born
Paul Davis Ryan
(1970-01-29) January 29, 1970 (age 42)
Janesville, Wisconsin, U.S.

Political party
Republican

Spouse(s)
Janna Little

Children
Liza
Charles
Samuel

Residence
Janesville, Wisconsin

Alma mater
Miami University

Religion
Roman Catholicism

Website
Congressional website
Paul Ryan (Facebook)
Paul Ryan on Twitter

This article is part of a series about
Paul Ryan
Paul Ryan

Romney–Ryan campaign, 2012

Paul Davis Ryan (born January 29, 1970) is the United States Representative for Wisconsin's 1st congressional district and the nominee of the Republican Party for Vice President of the United States in the 2012 election.^[1]^[2]

Born and raised in Janesville, Wisconsin, Ryan 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. He is currently the chairman of the House Budget Committee.

Ryan has developed budget plans that propose privatizing Medicare for those currently under the age of 55,^[3] funding Medicaid and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program through block grants to the states,^[4]^[5]^[6] 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.^[7]

On August 11, 2012, Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney announced that he had selected Ryan to be his vice-presidential running mate. Ryan is also running for re-election to his seat in the House in

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