Rep. Paul Ryan, the powerful chairman of the House Budget Committee, is endorsing Mitt Romney for the Republican presidential nomination.

There had been speculation the Wisconsin Republican would fall into the Romney column, and Ryan did so Friday morning in an interview on Fox News Channel’s “Fox and Friends.’’

Ryan says Romney is best suited to beat President Barack Obama.

He also says that Romney has emerged as the candidate most deserving of the GOP rank and file’s backing. Ryan tells Fox he’s convinced that Romney “has the skills, the tenacity and the courage’’ to lead the party in the race against Obama this fall.

He also says he’s convinced that “if we drag this thing on through summer, it’s going to be harder’’ to turn Obama out of office.