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Sundar Pichai, chief executive officer of Google Inc., speaks during the Google I/O Developers Conference in Mountain View, California, U.S., on Tuesday, May 8, 2018.
Google Chief Executive Sundar Pichai will meet privately with top Republican lawmakers this week, the company confirmed to CNBC.
“I look forward to meeting with members on both sides of the aisle, answering a wide range of questions, and explaining our approach,” Pichai said in an emailed statement on Tuesday.
“These meetings will continue Google’s long history of engaging with Congress, including testifying seven times to Congress this year.”
The news, which was first reported by The Wall Street Journal, comes after Google snubbed Congress last month, refusing to send a top-tier executive to a hearing on Capitol Hill.
The company, owned by tech conglomerate Alphabet, was derided by U.S. politicians for not sending C-suite executives like Pichai and Alphabet CEO Larry Page. A chair was left vacant where a Google representative would have sat during the hearing.
According to the Journal, Google’s boss will address issues ranging from the firm’s business dealings in China to allegations of political bias at the meeting with GOP officials. The newspaper also reported that the meeting was organized by House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy and that Pichai plans to appear at a House Judiciary Committee hearing in November following the mid-term elections.
