The Slatest

From the C-SPAN vault, we bring you Paul Ryan's first two appearance on the public-affairs channel (or at least the first two they have archived). The first clip is from the May 27, 1995, edition of the Washington Saturday Journal, and in it we see Ryan as a 25-year-old legislative director for then-Rep. Sam Brownback. His first topic of choice? You guessed it: the budget, Medicare, and Medicaid.

Fast forward three-and-a-half years to Nov. 17, 1998, and that wonky but well-spoken LD has become a wonky but well-spoken congressman-elect after winning the first of seven House elections in his home state of Wisconsin.