New Speaker Mike Johnson received a warm reception on Wednesday when he met Senate Republicans, many of whom had little or no past interaction with the Louisianan.
“I was very impressed with him. Obviously, he’s got a tough job ahead of him,” Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., said after exiting a Senate GOP lunch where Johnson, the special guest, received two audible rounds of applause. “He’s willing to admit that he’s got a learning curve involved here, but I think people are going to come to be impressed with him.”
Johnson, a fourth-term House member who was vaulted to the speakership from the role of vice chair of the Republican Conference, was said by senators to acknowledge that his personal policy preferences may not always reflect the will or the needs of the conference.
