Readers — yes, we’re coming to you Saturday! This is the last installment of our four-day on-the-ground report from CES, where we’ve been tracking the collision of federal policy, gadgets and our evolving virtual future. LAS VEGAS— The fallout from the House’s speakership mess managed to reach even the world’s biggest consumer technology conference this weekend. Here at CES, in a year when federal policy was a front-burner issue for the tech industry, Congress punted on its big moment: A Saturday panel aimed explicitly at outlining what the new Congress wants in innovation policy was canceled as the late vote held up the three members who’d been scheduled to attend. But Washington’s priorities for tech in the new Congress have been made clear enough here over the past week, including on a panel held late Friday afternoon featuring Sens. Jacky Rosen (D-Nev.), Ben Ray Luján (D-N.M.), and Mark Warner (D-Va.), who hammered out their own priorities for 2023 on the convention stage. Much of the discussion, naturally, centered around here-and-now policy issues like cybersecurity, rural broadband access and STEM education. But there was plenty of talk of the future, too, especially from Warner, who laid out his big goals on tech in terms that strongly echoed the convention’s global-future-minded policy discussions. “The technology competition with China” will be a major priority for him in 2023, he said, focusing specifically on “looking at algorithms, artificial intelligence, quantum computing, advanced engineering, synthetic biology… that competition has to be dealt with in a serious way, and that's going to require innovation and investment.” Warner, who made his own fortune as a tech VC and entrepreneur, called the current tech slump “just part of a normal cycle,” and encouraged attendees to look further out: “When you think about all of the devices out on that floor, they’re all powered by chips — this is a long-term play,” Warner said. “Technology development and national security are inexorably linked.” Luján echoed that emphasis on innovation and funding the wonky side of the industry: “I get excited when I talk about the Department [of Energy],” Luján said. “The kind of research happening on quantum computing, applied sciences, in the world of AI, anytime there's something good happening in those worlds… there’s someone from our National Labs [involved].” Given the major wins for Democratic, and many bipartisan, tech priorities in 2022, the overall optimistic tone of the panel was hardly a surprise. But just as with the canceled Congressional panel this morning, a specter from the House is looming over the general good vibes, at least when it comes to federal money: That of newly-minted House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, who railed against the CHIPS and Science Act as fiscally irresponsible, and agreed this week to major concessions to the fiscal-hawk Freedom Caucus members who finally helped him secure his speakership.
| 
