Vice President-elect Gov. Mike Pence joined Senate Republicans for the first of what is expected to be many closed-door lunches with members of the upper chamber Tuesday.
House Majority Leader Mitch McConnell told reporters he discussed their policy agenda for 2017 during the meal. He anticipates Pence will join them regularly to discuss policy once he officially takes office.
“I believe I’m safe in saying he intends to come to our lunches periodically when he is in town, it was the same thing that Vice President Cheney did, which was a great asset to our members in terms of having access to the second most important person in the executive branch on a routine basis,” McConnell told reporters
Pence has been touted as President-elect Donald Trump’s ambassador to Congress, having formed friendships with a number of members in both chambers during his time in the House.
The lunch marks the first broad meeting he’s had with his conference, Politico reports.
“We spent most of the hour discussing a variety of different issues with him. As we move toward completion, we hope to pass the WRDA bill, the Cures bill, the NDAA conference report and of course the continuing resolution,” McConnell said of the meeting.
Sen. John Barrasso of Wyoming told reporters Pence discussed repealing parts of Obamacare through executive action — the rest would likely be repealed using the budget reconciliation process. “We spent most of the hour discussing a variety of different issues with him.”
Follow Juliegrace Brufke on Twitter
All content created by the Daily Caller News Foundation, an independent and nonpartisan newswire service, is available without charge to any legitimate news publisher that can provide a large audience. All republished articles must include our logo, our reporter’s byline and their DCNF affiliation. For any questions about our guidelines or partnering with us, please contact licensing@dailycallernewsfoundation.org.