CEOs’ Meeting With DC Lawmakers Shows Growing Big Tech Influence

Several Silicon Valley CEOs met Wednesday (April 30) with U.S. lawmakers.

On the agenda at the Hill and Valley Forum in Washington D.C. were discussions of how Big Tech can help strengthen national security and manufacturing.

The event illustrated the tech world’s growing influence in Washington, Bloomberg reported Wednesday. What was once a gathering focused chiefly on defense has begun broadening its focus, thus spotlighting Big Tech’s increasing role in U.S. policy.

Jacob Helberg, who helped launch Hill and Valley, is now under-secretary of state responsible for economic and tech-related issues. In a post on social platform X this week teasing the lineup, Helberg said this year’s event marks a turning point for Big Tech.

“In four short years, the Hill and Valley Forum has by far become the preeminent gathering of technology builders and policymakers,” he said in the post. “This year marks the highest level of participation yet. It was once pious in the Valley to walk away from the U.S. government. The Hill and Valley Forum was a cultural insurgency by builders who asked what they could do for America, not what America could do for them. What was counterculture is now more mainstream. Our country is stronger for it.”

In four short years, the Hill & Valley Forum has by far become the preeminent gathering of technology builders and policymakers. This year marks the highest level of participation yet.

It was once pious in the Valley to walk away from the U.S. government. The Hill & Valley… pic.twitter.com/Uq3rv83mYo

— Jacob Helberg (@jacobhelberg) April 27, 2025

Another event organizer, Delian Asparouhov, is a partner at Founders Fund, the investment firm launched by Peter Thiel, who is tied to President Donald Trump officials such as Vice President JD Vance, per the Bloomberg report.

During the forum, Sen. Joni Ernst of Iowa was scheduled to take part in discussions about building a “smarter, leaner government,” and White House economist Stephen Miran was to be featured on a panel about using robotics to revive the American manufacturing sector, the report said.

Since President Donald Trump’s return to the White House, executives from the tech sector and venture capitalists have joined the administration to help guide artificial intelligence and cryptocurrency policy, according to the report. In addition, the tech industry has also played a role in attempting to reduce government spending via Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).

Meanwhile, many CEOs are lobbying the Trump administration for more clarity on tariffs.

Amias Gerety, partner at QED Investors, told PYMNTS this week that executives are holding onto “some hope that this whole thing is just a bad dream” and are postponing purchases in the belief that a negotiated reprieve might arrive in the next 90 days.