Republicans step up criticism of Chinese spy balloon

Republicans are stepping up their criticism of the Biden administration’s handling of the Chinese spy balloon after they received secret briefings about the invasion and learned that the US shot down a second object over Alaska.

While the China ball has obvious geopolitical implications, it also gave Republican lawmakers a political opportunity—and they seized it.

Before news of the second target broke, it was announced that briefings from members of both houses received this week appeared to do little to allay GOP frustration.

Republicans are publicly demanding answers from the Biden administration about its decision to let the balloon cross the continental United States before shooting it down, and wonder what will happen when China tests the US again in a similar fashion.

“China sent a spy balloon to fly around America. The Biden administration had a chance to shoot him down over Alaska and decided to let him spy all over America. End of story,” Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Arkansas) told reporters after an all-senator briefing on Thursday.

“The administration doesn’t want to take on anything because they need the flexibility to do what I’m sure they would do here if some enterprising pilots and photographers didn’t spot this balloon over Montana, let it run its course. Don’t tell Congress, don’t tell the American people, and certainly don’t shoot them down,” Cotton added.

Republicans doubled down on that criticism Friday afternoon after the White House announced the US military had shot down a “high-altitude object” flying over Alaska airspace.

Some GOP lawmakers argue that this shows that the US does indeed have the ability to immediately shoot down the Chinese balloon. The object, according to White House national security spokesman John Kirby, was smaller than a Chinese balloon and flew at an altitude of 40,000 feet, posing a “reasonable threat to the safety of civilian flights.” Officials do not yet know where he came from.

“So that we can shoot down suspicious objects BEFORE they cross our border … As I suggested,” Senator Roger Marshall (R-Kansas). wrote on tvtiter.

“I’m trying to understand why this much smaller — by their own admission, much less capable — balloon with a much smaller payload was considered as much of a threat as the other,” said Rep. Michael Waltz (R-Fla.), committee member Foreign Affairs, CNN said in an interview. And it’s not just the height.

Biden administration officials briefed House and Senate lawmakers behind closed doors on Thursday, providing further details about the decision to shoot down the balloon over the Atlantic Ocean after it flew from Alaska to Montana to South Carolina.

Biden said this week that he ordered the Pentagon to shoot down the balloon “as soon as possible,” but national security officials determined that “the best time to do this is when it’s above the water.” After the device was shot down, the US military began searching for the wreckage.

Most Republicans were not convinced.

A number of GOP senators who left Thursday’s briefing said they had learned little from administration officials that they had not already gleaned from state news reports, and remained firmly convinced that the balloon should be removed.

“I have a lot of unanswered questions,” Senator Steve Danes (R-Montana) said after Thursday’s briefing, noting that the balloon hovered over an ICBM base in his state. “There is still a lot of work to be done in terms of the sophistication of this Chinese spy balloon.”

To the press about his expectations about how the administration would handle the future balloon, Danes, who heads the GOP Senate campaign, said he thought it would be “on a case-by-case basis.”

“It depends on where the balloon is, it depends on whether we want to collect intelligence on it, it depends on the capabilities of the balloon,” he added.

Senator Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) was visibly angry at a separate subcommittee hearing Thursday when she questioned defense officials.

“As an Alaskan, I am so angry. I want to use other words, but I’m not going to,” she said. “The fact of the matter is that Alaska is America’s first line of defense, right? If Russia attacks you, if China attacks you, we know exactly how they attack. They come and go over Alaska.”

However, one notable exception was Senator Mitt Romney (D-Utah), who defended the Biden administration’s approach to the situation.

“My questions were answered satisfactorily, and I believe that the administration, the president, our military and our intelligence agencies acted skillfully and carefully. At the same time, their capabilities are unusually impressive, ”Romney told reporters after the briefing.

Things got even more tense at a House briefing, after which Rep. Marjorie Taylor Green (R-Georgia) bragged about how she “chewed” administration officials. According to several lawmakers, Green shouted obscenities and said “I don’t believe you” at a briefing as they tried to explain why they were waiting for the balloon to reach the Atlantic coast.

“I tore them to pieces,” Greene said.

On Thursday, the House of Representatives unanimously passed a resolution condemning the Chinese Communist Party for launching a spy balloon over the US mainland, arguing that the mission was “a brazen violation of the sovereignty of the United States.”

Some Republicans according to Paulytico, initially sought to write a resolution critical of President Biden’s handling of the situation, with the idea of ​​potentially holding a vote hours before he was scheduled to deliver his State of the Union address on Tuesday.

But Rep. Michael McCall (R-Tex.), chairman of the foreign affairs committee, said he pushed for the measure to be bipartisan, emphasizing the importance of sending a single message of disapproval to Beijing rather than highlighting Washington’s divisions.

Even though the resolution easily passed 419-0, some Republicans still lashed out at the administration during debates in the House of Representatives.

“The lack of response from this administration was, in my opinion, negligent,” said Rep. Russell Fry (RS.C.), representing the area over which the balloon flew. “This was a check by the Chinese Communist Party, and I’m sad to say that the administration failed this check.”

“When this spy balloon approached Alaska, the reaction should have been crystal clear. It had to be shot down before it entered our sky. Instead, the Biden administration swung again,” said Rep. Ann Wagner, a member of the Foreign Relations Committee (R-Missouri). “They knowingly allowed a foreign military aircraft equipped with spyware to invade US sovereignty and roam the country unhindered. endangering the privacy of countless Americans.”

Another facet of the partisan squabbling is the nascent 2024 presidential battle, with former President Trump looking to capitalize on the situation politically. In a series of Truth Social posts, Trump stated that “the Chinese would never have raised an airship (balloon) over the United States if I were president!!!”

But reports indicate that China launched several balloons over the US during the Trump presidency, although they were not planned.while.

Across the aisle, Democrats have largely supported the White House and the military’s response to the balloon, arguing that Beijing didn’t get much information from the giant device and that the US knows about most of what it purchased because it could control it and get intelligence after after he landed in the ocean.

Biden on Thursday tried to tame the growing controversy by saying in an interview with Noticias Telemundo that the balloon “is not a major breach,” comparing it to other intelligence-gathering efforts around the world.

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“Look, the total amount of intelligence gathering that goes on in every country in the world is huge,” he said.

However, some still have many questions and concerns. Specifically, they are concerned about the question of what will happen next.

“This is not the first time a balloon has entered US airspace, and it won’t be the last. There has to be a plan to move forward,” Sen. John Tester (D-Mont.), a top Democrat target for the Republican Party in 2024, told reporters Thursday. “I think there are many lines that need to be connected point by point. … What did you do [the Chinese] receive? And where did they get it? And what will we do when this happens again?

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