House passes measure condemning China for spy balloon, 419-0

The House overwhelmingly passed a resolution on Thursday condemning China for its spy balloon that flew over the U.S. before it was shot down off the coast of South Carolina.

The measure, introduced by House Foreign Affairs Chair Michael McCaul (R-Texas), required two-thirds support to pass. The measure passed in a 419-0 blowout, a remarkable show of bipartisanship in the closely divided chamber.

But political jostling over the Chinese incursion took on more familiar contours across the Capitol on Thursday morning, as Sen. Jon Tester (D-Mont.) held a hearing on the balloon in the defense spending subpanel that he chairs. The centrist Tester, who's up for reelection in his red state next year, slammed Republicans for using China's actions as an “opportunity to score some cheap political points and get attention on social media.”

“I do not care who was in the White House,” Tester said, vowing to "hold anyone accountable" he needs to in the Biden administration.

While the State Department indicated it would "explore" potential punishment in response to the spy balloon, McCaul argued on the House floor before the vote that the incident “cannot go unanswered." A House vote in condemnation, he said, sends a "clear, bipartisan signal" to the Chinese Communist Party that the incursion "will not be tolerated."

"I've never seen a foreign nation adversary fly a reconnaissance aircraft that you could see from the ground with your own eyes,” McCaul said. “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."

In addition, members of the House and Senate also received briefings on the balloon Thursday morning by officials from the Pentagon, State Department and the intelligence community. The classified sessions, and the vote to condemn Beijing, cap more than a week of uproar on Capitol Hill over Chinese spying efforts.

The bipartisan vote to censure China for violating U.S. airspace came after House Republicans initially weighed a symbolic measure more pointedly criticizing the Biden administration’s response to the balloon. GOP leaders pivoted amid lobbying from McCaul to call out China’s spy tactics on a bipartisan basis rather than ding Biden.

Most Republicans have criticized Biden for his handling of the incident, contending that the balloon should have been shot down earlier in its journey. Democrats have repeatedly defended the administration's decision to wait until the balloon had traveled toward the coast before bringing it down, given that shooting it down closer to land risked injuring Americans with debris.

Biden last week ordered the balloon shot down, but military brass advised waiting until the aircraft was over water to minimize risks to people on the ground. The balloon was shot down by a U.S. fighter Saturday off the coast of the Carolinas, and the military is working to recover debris.

The No. 2 U.S. diplomat, Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee in a separate China hearing on Thursday that the administration "responded swiftly to protect Americans and safeguard against the balloon's collection of sensitive information."

Sherman, who was one of the officials who briefed lawmakers behind closed doors, added that the U.S. "made clear to PRC officials that the presence of this surveillance balloon was unacceptable.

"And along the way we learned a thing or two, which you'll hear in the classified briefing, about the PRC's use of the balloon,” she said.