House Speaker Ryan finds confidant in S.D.'s Kristi Noem
http://www.argusleader.com/story/news/politics/2016/05/02/house-speaker-ryan-finds-confidant-sds-kristi-noem/83399026/
WASHINGTON — When Rep. Kristi Noem heads to the House gym on Capitol Hill in the morning, the third-term lawmaker from South Dakota is not only building strength but strengthening her relationship with one of the chamber’s most influential lawmakers: Speaker Paul Ryan.
In between bouts of push-ups and pull-ups, Noem and Ryan, a Wisconsin Republican who was thrust into the role of speaker last October, often discuss agriculture, taxes, national security and a host of other issues important to people in South Dakota and across the country. During her more than five years in Congress, Noem, 44, has become a confidant of Ryan, giving South Dakota’s only House member a front-row seat into her party and potentially placing her in a better position to help her state.
“He’ll say (in between exercises) ‘What’s going on in South Dakota?’” Noem said in an interview in her Washington office. “We see each other there every morning. That’s my chance to bend his ear on things he has had an opinion on and just give another perspective.”
= new reply since forum marked as read
