Political Quotes

“Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support of H.R. 1151, and I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, I am the proud sponsor of H.R. 1151, the Upholding Sovereignty of Airspace or the USA Act. First, I thank Chairman Michael McCaul for co-leading this bill and for his partnership on the House Foreign Affairs Committee and presenting a united front on this very important issue. On January 28 of this year, a PRC surveillance balloon intruded our airspace. The balloon then flew across our Nation, trying to gather intelligence from sensitive American military sites. This was an unacceptable violation of U.S. sovereignty. The Biden administration closely monitored and tracked the balloon while it was over U.S. soil and took action to limit the balloon's ability to collect useful information that the PRC could not gather otherwise. On February 4, once it no longer posed a danger to Americans on the ground, the United States military shot down the balloon off the coast of South Carolina. President Biden safely and successfully took down the balloon in a way that allowed us to collect the debris and learn more about the PRC's surveillance program and capabilities. Since that day, the Biden administration has smartly declassified additional information about the PRC's global program and shared it with our allies and partners. We have learned that the United States and Canada aren't alone.…”