Settling in on Capitol Hill: Maryland lawmakers celebrate, pontificate, get keys to new offices

“I think the speaker fight is a good proxy for the challenges of this Congress,” said new Rep. Johnny Olszewski (D-2nd), citing the closely divided House several hours before the vote.

But Olszewski, like most of the freshmen, pledged to look beyond partisanship and look for”the commonsense solutions that voters sent us here for.” Sitting in the sparsely decorated Longworth House Office Building office he got the keys to only hours earlier — furnished, but with bookshelves empty and walls bare — Olszewski said he was “just eager to get to work.”