By Patricia Zengerle
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. Congress will take a bipartisan look at unidentified aerial objects that have made their way into U.S. and Canadian airspace, and why they were not found sooner, the Democratic leader of the U.S. Senate said on Monday.
Noting that U.S. officials said Chinese spy balloons were identified over the United States during former President Donald Trump’s administration, Schumer said the issue transcended any one administration or political party.
“Congress is going to conduct a careful bipartisan examination at these various incidents and also look into why U.S. authorities didn’t find these Chinese surveillance balloons sooner,” Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said in remarks as the Senate began its work for the week.
American and Canadian officials said on Monday they were unable to explain the origin of three aerial objects that the U.S. military shot down over the weekend, as Washington and Beijing traded accusations about high-altitude balloons.
The unprecedented events have transfixed Americans and Canadians, raised national security questions and prompted political outrage.
Republicans and some of President Joe Biden’s fellow Democrats in Congress have demanded more information, and expressed frustration after briefings by administration officials that so little is still known about the incidents.
“The administration has still not been able to divulge any meaningful information about what was shot down. What in the world is going on?” Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell asked in his remarks opening the Senate on Monday.
A spokesman for Schumer said there would be another briefing for every member of the Senate on Tuesday morning. There was a similar classified briefing for the 100-member Senate, as well as a session for the full House of Representatives, on Thursday.
Beijing denies sending any balloon for surveillance, saying the object shot down off the coast of South Carolina on Feb. 4 was a civilian research craft. China also accused the United States of deploying spy balloons over its territory, which Washington also denies.
(Reporting by Patricia Zengerle; additional reporting by Katherina Jackson and Richard Cowan; editing by Deepa Babington)
