President Joe Biden is skipping the World Economic Forum in Davos this year, instead sending a delegation of lawmakers to Switzerland, where politicians, business leaders and other notable public figures are meeting to discuss global challenges.
Former President Donald Trump also did not attend this year, despite attending the summit when he was president. It is common practice for presidents to skip Davos. Barack Obama, George W. Bush and George H.W. Bush all skipped Davos during their presidencies.
Here is a full list of Democrats and Republicans attending the WEF in Davos:
Democrats
Marty Walsh
Labor Secretary Marty Walsh spoke at a Yahoo Finance Live panel on Tuesday where he discussed inflation, the economy, and other challenges in the coming year.
Talking about immigration, Walsh said on the panel: "We're at a disadvantage because other countries have ways to import immigrant workers into their countries for big tech jobs, for working in restaurants. We don't have that pathway—at least a big enough pathway."
John Kerry
The 79-year-old climate envoy said on a panel on Tuesday that the world was not acting with enough urgency to save itself from the climate crisis.
The only way of preventing global warming is "money, money, money," Kerry said. "So how do we get there? Well, the lesson I've learned in the last years and I learned it as [secretary of state] and I've learned it since, reinforced in spades is money, money, money, money, money, money, money, money, money.
"I'm sorry to say that, I mean, yes technology, yes exciting new initiatives, yes organizing winning races politically...but we have to go further," he added.
Kerry said that cooling China-U.S. tensions may hinder the fight against climate change.
Janet Yellen
Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen met with Chinese Vice Premier Liu He while traveling abroad in Zurich, Switzerland on Wednesday.
Chris Coons
The Delaware Democrat appeared on the America (Un)Bound panel on Tuesday.
Senators Coons, Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona and Joe Manchin of West Virginia also met with business CEOs at a private luncheon at Davos. Republican Georgia Governor Brian Kemp also attended.
Joe Manchin
Manchin, the business-friendly Democrat for West Virginia, appeared on the America (Un)Bound panel on Tuesday and dined with business leaders at the forum.
"Let me just say real quick—the American people, basically, I think are tired and very, very upset with how the operations are...going whether it could be in extreme states or extreme Congress that we have," Manchin said during the panel.
"The problem that we have is the open press system and basically all the platforms. So if you're able to have five platforms, social platforms, you can basically personify the extremes as somebody who is extremely right or extremely left, and it seems like that is the majority speaking," he said. "They're not the majority, but they're basically driving everybody to make a decision."
He later apologized for his comments after critics slammed his comments as attacking the First Amendment.
Mikie Sherrill
New Jersey Democratic Representative Mikie Sherrill shared the stage with Manchin and Coons on Tuesday and met with business leaders.
J.B. Pritzker
The Democratic governor of Illinois was also on the same panel, where he said the U.S. wouldn't hit its inflation target "for a very long time."
"Well, their aim is to bring it back down to 2 percent, as you know, but I have to say my expectation is that that will take a very long time and that we can't rely on raising interest rates until that happens," he said. "If you want to see a massive recession, that's what it would result in."
Republicans:
Maria Elvira Salazar
Florida Congresswoman Maria Elvira Salazar joined a panel of Republicans at Davos, speaking about Ukraine and immigration.
The Cuban-American said that the United States would "liberate" Europe in 2023 as it did decades ago in World War II.
"I do believe that regardless of any discussions or doubts of the hundred billion dollars that we have donated or given to the Ukrainians to defend themselves, we will at the end vote, at least my vote to continue with the Ukrainians until they win," Salazar said.
Brian Kemp
The Georgia governor was on a panel with Sinema, Coons, Manchin, Salazar, Sherrill and Pritzker. Norwegian diplomat and WEF president Børge Brende led the conversation.
Kemp suggested that the two parties could work together to tackle big national problems such as crime.
"Every governor in the country is dealing with fentanyl crisis, street gang crisis, human trafficking," he said. "Much could be solved...and while we're working on these things, secure the dang border."
Independents:
Kyrsten Sinema
The Arizona senator, who recently changed her party affiliation from Democrat to independent, reiterated her support for the filibuster, in which lawmakers prolong a debate on proposed legislation with the intention of delaying or entirely preventing it from passing.
"And we still don't agree on getting rid of the filibuster?" Manchin said.
"That's correct," Sinema replied while high-fiving Manchin.
Uncommon Knowledge
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
About the writer
Jack Dutton is a Newsweek Reporter based in Cape Town, South Africa. His focus is reporting on global politics and ... Read more
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