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.

Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and agree to the resolution (H. Res. 104) 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.

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and to include extraneous material on this measure.

I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, this past week the Nation watched in shock as a Chinese surveillance balloon traversed much of the United States, including sensitive American military sites like Malmstrom Air Force Base in Montana. That base is one of the three places where our minuteman ICBM nuclear missiles are stored.

Americans were rightfully deeply disturbed by this brazen violation of sovereignty by the Chinese Communist Party. This act of aggression was done on the eve of a scheduled meeting between Chairman Xi and Secretary of State Antony Blinken. That meeting was ultimately canceled.

The balloon, I believe, was a test, a test of this administration to see how it would respond. I believe the President should have shot it down before it entered American airspace rather than allow it to cross over the Continental United States airspace.

But make no mistake, this was another intentionally provocative act by the CCP. As I have said often, weakness invites aggression. This act will only further embolden and empower our enemies; it will embolden and empower Chairman Xi.

Mr. Speaker, I have never seen a foreign nation adversary fly a reconnaissance aircraft that you could see from the ground with your own eyes. The CCP threat is now within sight for Americans across the heartland, a vision and memory that they will not forget.

This is further proof that the CCP does not care about having a constructive relationship with the United States. It is publicly challenging U.S. interests, threatening Taiwan, supporting Russia's war of aggression in Ukraine, and now violating U.S. sovereignty.

If there is any question whether the administration should request funds supporting Taiwan's foreign military financing grants, this incident alone should make it clear that the time is now to harden ourselves and our partners against the Chinese military aggression.

An event like this, Mr. Speaker, must not happen again, and it cannot go unanswered. They only understand one thing and that is force, and that is projecting power; and we need to project power and force and strength against the Chinese Communist Party.

They must understand that we do desire peace, but infringing upon our sovereignty leads us down a dangerous path. Our adversaries must believe that any future incursion into American airspace by a spy balloon or any other vehicle will be met with decisive force, and that is why the House should pass this resolution.

The resolution, under section 4, does call for the Biden administration to continue to keep Congress apprised by providing comprehensive briefings on this incident that include--and there

are many of these, but I want to go to the end,--most importantly, a detail description of plans, capabilities, and methods to deter and defeat intelligence collection activities conducted by the PRC or other foreign adversaries in the national airspace system and any additional authorities needed from Congress to ensure detection and defeat these activities in the future.

I hope this administration will comply with this resolution. This resolution, I believe, sends a clear, bipartisan signal to the CCP and our adversaries around the world that this action will not be tolerated; to tell the world, with a united voice, that our national security is not a partisan issue.

We stand together today with one voice, as Americans, Americans against this act of aggression by the Chinese Communist Party.

Mr. Speaker, I urge unanimous support of this resolution, and I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from South Carolina (Mr. Fry), who personally eyewitnessed the spy balloon in the Atlantic Ocean as it was shot down on the beaches right off of his district, off the coast of his district in South Carolina.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 2\1/2\ minutes to the gentlewoman from Missouri (Mrs. Wagner), the vice chair of the Committee on Foreign Affairs and another eyewitness to this act of aggression as the balloon traveled across her State, the State of Missouri.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 2\1/2\ minutes to the gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Smith), the chairman of the Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Global Health, Global Human Rights, and International Organizations.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentlewoman from California (Mrs. Kim), chair of the Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Indo-Pacific.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Montana (Mr. Zinke), an original cosponsor of this bill and yet another Member who witnessed the spy balloon as it flew over his State of Montana.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 1\1/2\ minutes to the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Moran), a member of the Foreign Affairs Committee.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 1\1/2\ minutes to the gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Kean), a member of the Foreign Affairs Committee and the chairman of the Subcommittee on Europe.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, let me just say that lies, deceit, espionage, spying, this is nothing new.

Mr. Speaker, I remember, in 1997, I was assigned to a case at the Department of Justice to prosecute a man named Johnny Chung. He was taking money from Chinese intelligence officials, from China Aerospace, to put into the Clinton campaign to influence the election because China wanted to influence the election back then. They wanted satellites. They wanted aerospace technology. That is why they were doing it then.

Guess what? My FBI agent got indicted for espionage for sleeping with a Chinese spy--imagine that--a Chinese spy who for 20 years was cultivated as an FBI asset. Her name was Katrina Leung. I will never forget it because all the information I gave my agent went straight back to the mother ship in Beijing. A Chinese spy, 20 years cultivated, became a double agent reporting back to Beijing, and we can't release those documents from 20 years ago, 30 years ago.

But this--this one--takes the cake: a balloon this brazen that is only 60,000 feet above the ground and that can be seen with the naked eye surveilling the United States of America.

We talked at our organizational meeting last night about how this committee is bipartisan. We are bipartisan. We are bipartisan on this issue.

Mr. Speaker, I will tell you this: If there is anything this Congress should get done--I challenge the other side of the aisle--let's stand together against this common enemy that we have.

Our enemy is not each other. Our enemies are foreign enemy nations like China, Russia, Iran, and North Korea--China being the largest foreign state adversary and the biggest threat long term to the national security interests of the United States.

Let's do it with one voice. Let's put our partisan politics aside and do what is right for America.

Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of H. Res. 104, condemning the CCP's use of a high-altitude surveillance balloon over the United States territory as a brazen violation of U.S. sovereignty, that was authored by my friend and chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, Michael McCaul.

Last week, the entire world witnessed a clear and unacceptable breach of U.S. sovereignty. I stand here today to strongly denounce the presence of the PRC balloon in the United States airspace.

It is now up to Beijing to demonstrate, not just to the United States but to the world, that it is serious about respecting international rules and law, and that it is genuine about stabilizing relations with the United States.

Secretary Blinken was on his way to Beijing to engage in diplomacy but, and I believe, correctly, canceled his trip. It was the PRC's irresponsible behavior that once again hindered U.S. efforts at dialogue and de-escalation because once we crossed that line, it will not be good for any nation; and that is why diplomacy is always important.

The PRC also needs to come clean and stop pretending that this was a civilian airship gathering weather information that accidentally veered into the U.S. airspace. We all know, and now with the debris that we are picking up after the responsible shooting down of the balloon in the Atlantic Ocean, we all know that the PRC--it was a PRC surveillance balloon, full stop, and Beijing needs to own up to it.

I thank the Biden administration for the transparency that we learned that this was not the first time that the PRC balloon has transited over U.S. airspace. In fact, this has happened at least three times during the Trump administration and once before during this administration.

We also learned that last week's incident was part of a larger PRC global surveillance operation that has infringed on the sovereignty and threatened the security of nations across five continents.

We read this morning, in various public forums, like The New York Times and The Washington Post, that we have gained knowledge by shooting this balloon down in the Atlantic Ocean. As we dig it up, we will find more information and be able to share it with our allies so that we can collectively make sure that the violation of sovereignty does not continue by the PRC.

Over the weekend when this incident happened, I was talking to a number of members of my staff and they were telling me they were in the SCIF being informed by the administration of things that were going on. It is that kind of transparency and information that must continue, and I thank them for that.

Finally, let me just say that I thank the Biden administration for bringing that balloon down. I don't believe that China thought we would take it down. We did. We benefited from it. We have learned from it. We are examining it. We are working with our allies to make sure that our sovereignty is not invaded by the PRC.

Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 4 minutes to the gentleman from California (Mr. Sherman), a member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentlewoman from Texas (Ms. Jackson Lee).

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, let me say that the Biden administration--we just had a classified hearing so the questions could be asked. They have been transparent. If there are any questions that need to be asked--as I said earlier, my staff and other staff were informed and briefed.

The fact of the matter is the Biden administration has declassified a lot of the information, and that is why we read it in The New York Times today and in The Washington Post yesterday. The American people know what is going on.

There is no secrecy in what took place. We know that there was a decision, as indicated in the Times today, that we would get more information by bringing it down in the Atlantic Ocean and obtaining the balloon, looking at it, learning from it, having more of a benefit than China did with what its civilian balloon was attempting to do. We know that.

If there is any question that any Member of Congress has about what took place or transpired, one, you can first just go to The New York Times or The Washington Post; two, yesterday, Secretary of State Blinken held a press conference; or you could have gone to the classified hearing this morning where all the decisionmakers were present to ask any question that you wanted to. There has been complete transparency by the Biden administration.

Mr. Speaker, I conclude by saying there is one thing that we all agree upon, that the United States' sovereignty was crossed by the PRC. There is one thing that we can agree upon, that the PRC are the ones that violated it and sent a civilian balloon not only here to the United States but, as we have learned, over five continents.

We have to work collectively together to isolate the PRC and its dictatorship for the harm and spying that it is doing across this globe.

Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, H. Res. 104 is an opportunity for this body to denounce the People's Republic of China's repeated infringement of U.S. sovereignty. The events of the past week and our response to it, including this resolution, reveal the PRC's irresponsible actions to the world and demonstrate that the United States will always act to defend our sovereignty and work with our allies.

Indeed, this balloon traveled over Canada and, as we said, over five continents. There are conversations that our allies are having collectively to make sure that sovereignty is preserved.

Through its measured and effective action that safeguarded civilian life and prevented escalation, the Biden administration showcased to the world once again that the United States is the responsible power. By swiftly sharing information about the PRC's global surveillance efforts, we have strengthened the confidence and trust that our allies and partners have in us.

In short, the PRC came out on the bottom and America came out on top.

With the confidence that we will continue to do so in our competition with the PRC, I hope that all of my colleagues join me in condemning the PRC's violation of our sovereignty and support this resolution.

Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, China says it reserves the right to retaliate against America for the temerity of shooting down their spy balloon over our territory. This arrogance should not surprise us. It is the fruit of decades of China successfully pushing us around and getting away with murder. The balloon is just the latest, and I think the smallest, invasion of our sovereignty.

China denies access to American companies to its market, thus creating the most lopsided trading relationship in the history of trading relationships, with all the macroeconomic effects that has.

But it also has an effect on our sovereignty, because it then allows access to their markets to selected American companies, handing out that access like dog training treats. And lo and behold, our corporations, they roll over, they sit down, they play dead. Morgan Stanley has to tell its American customers to invest--advises them to invest 15 percent of their money in China; and if it fails to do so, Morgan Stanley won't be able to do business in China.

God forbid anybody from the NBA mentions Hong Kong or the Uyghurs. They are bounced out of the league.

And Hollywood is told they can only get 40 movies into China every year, which means if they make a movie about Tibet, it will not be shown in China. Hell, if they make a movie about Tibet, none of their movies will ever be shown in China. As a result, we are not going to see a movie about Tibet or the Uyghurs. China controls what we see on our screens.

And then a little problem with COVID, where China's obfuscation and lack of cooperation led to hundreds of thousands of deaths around the world.

But most significantly are the millions of jobs that we have lost as we have seen our industry hollowed out. The result is a decline in real wages over the last 30 years of Americans without college degrees and the fentanyl crisis as well.

All of these offenses deserve a major response, and we cannot limit that response to just this balloon. Like a balloon, we cannot allow this to all blow over.

I have five modest proposals.

First, we should sell identified weapon systems to Taiwan, including the helicopters.

Second, we should provide that China automatically loses its most- favored-nation status if they invade or blockade Taiwan.

Third, all major American corporations should report to their shareholders how they would be affected by a rupture in the U.S.-China trade relationship, because that is a genuine risk factor. It might happen. But that will encourage the companies to disengage from China and to build resiliency to compete for capital by showing shareholders that they are ready and that they have disengaged. And if our companies are resilient, our economy is resilient.

Fourth, we need a fund to compensate American companies that choose not to bow down to China and, therefore, suffer losses. This needs to be funded from a tariff on Chinese goods.

And, fifth, we need tough responses to China in tariffs if they retaliate for any of the four things I just identified.

We have a lot to do. This balloon has woken up the American people, and it should wake us up to the far greater things that China has done.

In the meantime, let's pass this resolution.

Mr. Speaker, I thank the ranking member and thank the managers of this bill for their work.

This was no weather balloon. This was a spy balloon.

Let me be very clear: Members of both sides of the aisle, Democrats and Republicans, are standing before the American people and recognizing that this resolution of the Chinese Communist Party's actions are appropriate, and we should, as Americans, denounce their actions.

Let me be very clear as well: I want to congratulate United States military intelligence officials and others who effectively took the Commander in Chief's order that occurred on February 1 to shoot it down, and they handled themselves with the greatest amount of appropriateness to ensure that the American people were safe, to contain the threat, and to do their job.

It serves no purpose to suggest that the Commander in Chief, President Joe Biden, failed the American people or did anything wrong.

Interestingly enough, in the midst of the spy balloon, over 70 percent of the American people believe that Joe Biden took to the podium in the State of the Union and gave them enough comfort that the State of the Union is well, our souls are strong, and the American people are strong.

Yes, as a member of the Homeland Security Committee, I am keenly aware and concerned about this Nation's national security, keenly aware of the timeframe in which this spy balloon came into our eyesight.

With that in mind, even as it traversed the United States, I can assure you, in spite of the chronicling of the facts here, that General Austin, the Department of Defense, and others that were responsible for our safety, pursuant to the direction of the Commander in Chief, followed this spy balloon and were able to handle it appropriately in the course of shooting it down.

Finally, let me say: It is important that we use this as a condemnation of the Chinese Communist Party. Let us not use this to intimidate Chinese Americans or to be able to create atmospheres of hate. I denounce that, and I denounce SB 147 in the State of Texas that wants to stop Chinese Americans from buying property. That is not the American way.

What is the American way is to stand as Democrats and Republicans and others and Members of Congress to take our full responsibility, alongside the executive, to ensure your national security. We have done that.

We have the facts, we know the traversing, and I can assure you that the Chinese Americans have not engaged themselves in this activity and should not be condemned.

The Chinese Communist Party is aware of the strength of the people of the United States and their defense.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support of H. Res. 104, a resolution 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, introduced by House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Michael McCaul of Texas.

I would never have imagined that my Saturday afternoon would have been disrupted due to a Chinese spy balloon. Not only did it float across most of South Carolina, it floated across the entire Continental United States, and ended up over my district and, out of all places in this country, the balloon was shot down right off the coast of my hometown, Surfside Beach, which I represent.

And yes, it does--if you watched it and if you were there on the ground--sound like it was straight out of a sci-fi movie.

There is no question that the response or, rather, lack of response from this administration, in my opinion, was negligent.

More than 19 million people annually visit our area to enjoy our beautiful beaches and southern hospitality along more than 60 miles of coast that is known as the Grand Strand.

Myrtle Beach is known for many things, Mr. Speaker, but part of that equation has never been an international incident taking place right off of our shores.

The Chinese Communist Party last Friday, February 3, said that this was merely a weather balloon gathering meteorological data that got lost in our country. It is comical to me that they would actually think that we would fall for such a bogus claim.

Let me be clear: This was a blatant violation of American sovereignty as part of the comprehensive surveillance program on the United States as well as other countries across the globe.

This was a test by the Chinese Communist Party, and it saddens me to say that I think this administration failed that test.

This is the United States. Our foreign policy has always been built on peace through strength. This is our wake-up call. It is time for President Biden to step up on the world stage and take a page from one of my favorite Presidents, Teddy Roosevelt: Speak softly and carry a big stick. While diplomacy should always be our first objective, we must be prepared to respond with strength when necessary.

This resolution shows that the U.S. House of Representatives, in a bipartisan fashion, condemns the Chinese Communist Party's efforts to deceive the international community with their false claims of intelligence collection. I call on this administration to promptly and decisively act to further prevent surveillance attempts in the future.