[Congressional Record Volume 169, Number 24 (Monday, February 6, 2023)]
[House]
[Page H698]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                     CHINESE SPY BALLOON SITUATION

  (Mr. LaMALFA asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. LaMALFA. Mr. Speaker, I was home over the weekend and saw a lot 
of folks in the district, and they are baffled by the handling of this 
Chinese spy balloon situation.
  Regular folks are wondering: Why in the world was this thing handled 
or not handled the way it was? Why was it allowed to travel across the 
entire North American Continent, through the NORAD system, from Alaska 
through Canada down through our Midwestern States, and finally exiting 
at Carolina?
  Why wasn't another way found to bring the balloon down slowly, maybe 
just a couple of bullet holes in the balloon itself instead of 
allegedly a million-dollar missile hitting the spy array so there is 
not going to be any evidence as it got dumped into the ocean?
  There are a lot of questions to be answered about this, and we are 
not getting very good answers out of the military or out of the White 
House.
  Tomorrow night, the President is going to be standing about 10 feet 
away from this spot right here, and I hope he has some really good 
answers on what our air defense system looks like in this country. How 
much spying is allowed to go on by balloon, for crying out loud?

  We know the satellites that are up there and stuff, but this is a 
breach of the trust of our country, and we are looking foolish around 
the world by allowing this to happen.

                          ____________________