Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) called an apparent Chinese spy balloon’s incursion into U.S. airspace “unacceptable” as the Biden administration weighs its next steps.
The presence of the balloon was first announced Thursday when it was spotted over Montana, home to some of the United States’s nuclear missile sites. Republican lawmakers have called on President Joe Biden to “shoot it down” as it drifts eastward, having lately been seen over Kansas.
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“The unauthorized incursion into American airspace by a foreign military air balloon, likely for surveillance purposes, is unacceptable. It is a serious situation that we will closely monitor as the Biden administration contemplates next steps,” Jeffries said Friday, adding, “In the interim, while we await additional information, it is appropriate that Secretary [of State Antony] Blinken postponed his travel to Beijing.”
Jeffries and the other members of the “Gang of Eight,” the four congressional party leaders and top members of the Intelligence committees, will have a classified briefing next week on the situation, according to Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer’s (D-NY) office.
Democratic Sen. Jon Tester (MT) joined Republicans in blasting the administration’s response.
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“This provocation is completely unacceptable, and I am in close contact with Department of Defense and intelligence officials. We are still waiting for real answers on how this happened and what steps the administration took to protect our country, and I will hold everyone accountable until I get them,” he said in a statement. “I will always defend Montana and our national security from hostile adversaries like China.”
The Chinese government maintains the device is a weather balloon that was blown off course. Secretary of State Antony Blinken postponed his trip to Beijing while the U.S. government works out how to deal with it.
