GOP Picks Wash. Congresswoman for State of the Union Address Response

Cathy McMorris Rodgers give follow-up speech

The highest-ranking Republican woman in Congress will deliver the party's official response to President Barack Obama's State of the Union Address on Tuesday.

Washington Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers, the chair of the Republican conference and a mother of three (her most recent child having been born late last year), has been tapped to deliver the high-profile speech. 

McMorris Rodgers's position as head of the GOP conference makes her the fourth-ranking Republican in the House; the Senate GOP leadership consists only of men. She'll be the first woman to deliver the Republican response to a Democratic president's State of the Union address since Maine Sen. Susan Collins co-delivered the 2000 response with then-Sen. Bill Frist, R-Tenn.