Condemning the Chinese Communist Party's Use of A High-Altitude Surveillance Balloon Over United States Territory As A Brazen Violation of United States Sovereignty

Floor Speech

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Mrs. WAGNER. Mr. Speaker, I thank Chairman McCaul for yielding the time and for this resolution. I rise in support of the resolution.

Literally, from the heart of Missouri's Second Congressional District, there I was, in the suburbs of St. Louis County, as I watched this spy balloon with my own eyes. I wasn't the only one. I was getting calls from friends and family all over Missouri who were horrified that this was allowed to happen.

We watched in real time from our backyards and workplaces as a foreign aircraft equipped with spyware navigated over our neighborhoods, our military installations, and our vital infrastructure.

As this spy balloon approached Alaska, the response should have been crystal clear. It should have been shot down before it entered our skies. Instead, the Biden administration waffled again. They knowingly allowed a foreign military aircraft equipped with spyware to invade U.S. sovereign territory and navigate itself unimpeded all across the country, putting the privacy of countless Americans at risk.

Communist China issued a deliberate and serious provocation. Instead of responding with strength and resolve, the administration showed the dictatorship in Beijing that they could again be bullied.

President Biden's weakness and indecision send a dangerous signal to our adversaries like Iran, Russia, and North Korea, and it certainly does not give confidence to our allies.

It is unconscionable that the administration waited so long to take action and protect our national security, infrastructure, and military assets. The administration needs to take action to correct its mistake and to restore American deterrence.

Congress must get to the bottom of this deeply disturbing episode. We have a duty to our constituents, many of whom feel much less safe today than they did at about this time a week ago.

I can tell you that that is the case in Missouri's Second Congressional District, where families literally watched as a foreign military aircraft flew over their private property, collecting data about their lives to send back to Beijing.

Mr. Speaker, this must never happen again. I urge my colleagues to join me in supporting H. Res. 104.

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