Romney, Ryan meet off Capitol Hill

Mitt Romney met for about ninety minutes with former running mate Paul Ryan on Thursday ahead of his White House lunch with President Obama.

According to an aide for the House Budget Committee Chairman, the pair enjoyed the chance to catch up — and spent time discussing policy.

{mosads}“Congressman Ryan had a constructive and positive conversation with Mitt Romney this morning,” the aide said. “In addition to sharing updates from their families and reflections from the campaign, their forward-looking conversation focused on resolving the critical fiscal and economic challenges ahead.”

In a statement released by his congressional office, Ryan said he appreciated the chance to see his friend.

“I remain grateful to Governor Romney for the honor of joining his ticket this fall, and I cherish our friendship,” Ryan said. “I’m proud of the principles and ideas we advanced during the campaign and the commitment we share to expanding opportunity and promoting economic security for American families.”

CNN reported that the pair met at a Washington-area hotel and not on Capitol Hill. A spokeswoman for Romney did not respond to a request for comment about the meeting.

The meeting preceded a Romney lunch with Obama at the White House. In his victory speech on election night, Obama said he hoped to discuss ways he and Romney could work together to help the nation.



“In the weeks ahead, I also look forward to sitting down with Gov. Romney to talk about where we can work together to move this country forward,” Obama said.



The pair are expected to have lunch in the White House’s private dining room, and White House officials have advised that there will likely be no press coverage of the event.

On Wednesday, Press Secretary Jay Carney said only the president and Romney would be in the room, and that no agenda had been set.

“During his news conference two weeks ago, the president said that there are aspects of Gov. Romney’s record and Gov. Romney’s ideas that he believes could be very helpful,” Carney said, adding he anticipated a “useful discussion.”

This story was updated at 1:05 p.m.