Chamber's Washington delegation focuses on issues critical to business community. (Los Angeles Area Chamber of Commerce)

Board members of the Los Angeles Area Chamber of Commerce met with top federal officials and other key Capitol Hill leaders May 4-7 during their annual leadership trip to the Washington, D.C.

Dennis C. Poulsen, chairman of the board of directors of the Chamber and Ezunial Burts, president of the Los Angeles Area Chamber of Commerce, led the delegation as it discussed critical policy issues with key decision makers.

The Chamber delegation met with staff writers from the Washington bureau of the Los Angeles Times; Department of Energy Special Assistant Dan Adamson; Tim Ransdell, executive director of the California Institute; Representative Jay Kim; Assistant Secretary Steve Palmer of the Department of Transportation; Senator Barbara Boxer; Senator Dianne Feinstein; Representative Juanita Millender-McDonald; Representative Bud Schuster, chair of House Transportation & Infrastructure Committee; Victor Schwartz, Senior Partner at Crowell & Moring, LLP; Representative Christopher Cox; Representative Jane Harmon; Representative James Rogan; Reed Hunt, Chairman of the Federal Communications Commission; Representative David Drier; Larry Harrington, alternate executive director of the Inter-American Development Bank; Dan McLaughlin, deputy secretary, International Trade Administration - Department of Commerce; Joseph Minarik, associate director for economic policy, Office of Management & Budget; and Mary Nichols, assistant administrator at the Environmental Protection Agency.

One of the biggest issues discussed on the trip was the budget deal. Capitol Hill observers said the deal was unusual and extraordinary because of bipartisanship on a scale never seen before. …