The flight of the Chinese spy balloon over the breadth of the United States is intolerable, and it's vital that Congress get to the bottom of what damage Beijing was able to inflict on the U.S. due to the episode, Rep. Nick LaLota told Newsmax on Tuesday.
The New York Republican, who's serving his first term in Congress, represents a district that President Joe Biden won handily in the 2020 election.
LaLota, a member of the House Armed Services Committee, told "Wake Up America" that during his service in the Navy, he was deployed off the coast of North Korea and China in order to be alert for Chinese intelligence collectors, mainly in the form of ship-borne vessels.
He stressed that the Chinese spy balloon saga "is intolerable and the administration's actions on this need to be questioned by the Armed Services Committee, and we need to get to the bottom of what intelligence they were able to collect and send back to the Chinese Communist Party. It is of vital interest to the committee and to America."
Regarding Biden's State of the Union address Tuesday night, LaLota said that 62% of "Americans believe that the state of our union is not very strong or not strong as all, and that tells it all."
He stressed that Americans already are hurting financially, and now also are concerned about security due to the Chinese spy balloon.
LaLota emphasized that his fellow New York Republican in the House, Rep. George Santos, "needs to go right away and has been an embarrassment and a distraction."
He added that Congress and the Republican Party need to focus on the what is important to the nation, and getting rid of the distraction of Santos is key to concentrating on the vital issues.
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Brian Freeman ✉
Brian Freeman, a Newsmax writer based in Israel, has more than three decades writing and editing about culture and politics for newspapers, online and television.
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