Joseph Simonson of the Washington Free Beacon reports on U.S. House Republicans’ interest in learning more about the recent Chinese spy balloon.
House Republicans are preparing to issue subpoenas to senior members of the intelligence community and withhold spending in order to get information about why it took President Joe Biden eight days to respond to the Chinese spy balloon.
The Biden administration has so far been tight-lipped on details about the balloon and the administration’s response to it, according to Republican members who spoke to the Washington Free Beacon Tuesday. They have concerns about the Chinese operation, including Biden’s hesitation to shoot the balloon down and an anonymous Department of Defense official alleging to the press that the Trump administration allowed three similar balloons to fly over the continental United States without a military response.
Rep. Mike Bost (R., Ill.) said he is concerned that the public only became aware of the Chinese spy balloon after it was spotted by civilians. With Republicans in the majority, “subpoenas are well within our power,” Bost said, and could be “the stick in order to get people to come forward.” Bost also threatened to withhold spending if the Biden administration won’t give Congress answers.
“The Biden administration doesn’t understand that we’re the oversight and we control the purse,” Bost said. “Maybe we need to punish them with the purse and hit them as hard as we can.”
Bost’s comments come as House Republicans are in a standoff with the White House over raising the U.S. debt limit. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R., Calif.) is rejecting a clean debt ceiling raise and called on Biden Monday to negotiate with Republicans on cuts to discretionary domestic spending.
Despite efforts from some Democrats, such as Sen. Chris Murphy (D., Conn.) who called Republicans “bed wetters,” to dismiss Republican concerns about the balloon as frivolous, House Republicans made it clear they intend to keep the issue front and center.
