Top tech CEOs, set to have dinner tonight with President Trump at the White House.

Apple's Tim Cook actually just arriving moments ago.

Other heavyweights, including Mark Zuckerberg, Sunder Pichai, Sam Altman, all there.

For today's tech check, Christina Parts and Evelyn digging into the growing influence of Silicon Valley in Washington.

Christina.

Well, Sarah, tonight's White House Rose Garden dinner really reads like a who's who of Silicon Valley in Washington. Christina. Well, Sarah, tonight's White House Rose Garden dinner really reads like a who's who of Silicon Valley.

But it's also a sign of how much time tech CEOs are now spending in Washington.

Take Mark Zuckerberg, for example, he recently bought another home in D.C.

quietly expanding his footprint in the nation's capital.

One AI CEO I spoke with just yesterday told me he now travels to DC at least once a month,

emphasizing that lobbying has really become a huge part of his role.

That increased presence comes on top of record spending.

Eight major tech companies spent $36 million on federal lobbying in just six months. That's $320,000 for

every day Congress was in session, according to issue one analysis. Meta leads the pack

with almost $14 million in spending, one lobbyist for every six members of Congress. But it's

not just meta doubling down. Even AI startups are joining the influence game.

Anthropics spending spiked to $910,000 just last quarter,

while Nvidia's lobbying exploded 388% year over a year.

And here's what they're buying.

Amazon pushed on Section 230 protections.

Google focused on AI and digital trade. The industry even tried to slip a provision into Trump's spending bill that would have banned states from regulating AI for a decade. Here's more from Open Secrets, which tracks lobbying spend in D.C. Listen in.

They're playing the long game. They're trying to lay the foundation in terms of relationships with publicly elected officials

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