Associated Press
FCC Chairman Ajit Pai has canceled his trip to the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas this year because of the partial government shutdown, according to reports.
Pai had been scheduled speak at the confab Tuesday about the changing technological landscape.
That event has been removed from the trade shows calendar, and CES posted a statement to its website acknowledging that “some of its government speakers” were forced to cancel their travel to the show.
The FCC issued a public notice earlier today, saying that it would suspend most of its operations because of the lapse in federal funding. A spokesperson sent an automatic reply indicating that he would not be checking messages during this time.
This is the second time Pai has scrapped plans to attend the consumer electronics showcase. Last year, he canceled his scheduled appearance because of concerns about his safety. The FCC chairman had received death threats after moving to repeal Obama-era net neutrality rules.
Politico was the first to report that Pai and another commissioner, Brendan Carr, had withdrawn from the trade show, as another casualty of the budget impasse that is nearing the two-week mark and has affected some 800,000 federal employees.
Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao still is scheduled to deliver keynote remarks on Wednesday about the mobility revolution and self-driving vehicles.
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