White House announces reduced delegation to travel to Davos amid shutdown

The White House on Tuesday announced a scaled-back delegation that will head to Davos, Switzerland, next week for the World Economic Forum amid a partial government shutdown that shows few signs of ending.

Five administration officials will attend the gathering for political leaders and global elites, pared down from roughly a dozen who were previously slated to attend.

Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin will lead the delegation. He will be joined by Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross, U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and deputy chief of staff Chris Liddell.

{mosads}The group will attend the conference in Switzerland from Jan. 22-25.

Press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders announced in December that President Trump would join roughly a dozen other administration officials in Switzerland. Trump has since said he will not attend, citing the shutdown.

Other officials who will no longer make the trip include Labor Secretary Alex Acosta, Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao, Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen, Small Business Administrator Linda McMahon and White House advisers Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump.

Some of the officials attending, as well as a few who will no longer make the trip, oversee government agencies that are shuttered during a funding lapse that has lasted 25 days and counting. The departments of the Treasury, Homeland Security, Transportation, Commerce, State, Housing and Urban Development and Interior are among those closed during the shutdown.

Trump attended the forum last year, becoming just the second sitting U.S. president to do so. The U.S. does typically send a delegation of high-ranking officials.