House lawmakers are reportedly considering rolling out a bipartisan resolution aimed at condemning China over its suspected surveillance balloon that was shot down by the United States on Feb. 3.
The Texas lawmaker added that he has already sent a draft resolution to Rep. Gregory Meeks (D-N.Y.), the ranking member of the panel, who has “made his comments” and the two were set to meet late on Monday to work through the bill.
The possible bipartisan resolution comes as China this week confirmed that another balloon that was spotted over Latin America this past weekend also belongs to the nation.
Spy Balloon Shot Down
U.S. jets shot down the first surveillance balloon at around 2:39 p.m. ET on Saturday after it was seen making its way across the Carolinas and approaching the Atlantic coast, according to defense officials.Beijing also claims the first balloon was a civilian meteorological balloon that had been blown off course and just happened to fly over sensitive military sights.
However, Washington officials have said the balloon was likely conducting surveillance, although they’ve stopped short of stating exactly which sites the Chinese balloon allegedly surveyed.
Republicans Take Aim at Biden’s Response
“We should not have let the People’s Republic of China [PRC] make a mockery of our airspace,” McConnell said. “This was a reminder of the PRC’s brazenness and President Biden missed the opportunity to defend our sovereignty, send a message of strength, and bolster deterrence.”Other Republican lawmakers, including Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), and Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) also took aim at the administration’s failure to act promptly.
Despite their criticism of Biden’s response to China’s alleged surveillance, the bipartisan resolution is not expected to be aimed at Biden’s actions.
“Clearly, we’re focused on condemning China for sending a spy balloon into United States territory. Obviously, we have a lot more questions about what happened and when the administration knew it,” House Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-La.) said Monday.
“Those are separate questions going on, and we need to have a briefing on it. But in the meantime, we’re trying to get an agreement with the committees working on the proposal,” he added.
Separately, Meeks said that Democrats were open to cooperation on the resolution.
“We’re looking at it. They’ve got something, and there’s a dialogue going on. So, we’ll see what happens,” Meeks said.