House readies vote condemning China for use of spy balloon

Washington — The House is poised to formally condemn China for its use of a surveillance balloon over the United States, which was shot down by the military off the coast of South Carolina on Saturday.

A resolution introduced by GOP Rep. Mike McCaul of Texas, chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, criticizes China for its "brazen violation of United States sovereignty" and denounces the Chinese Communist Party's efforts "to deceive the international community through false claims about its intelligence collection campaigns in violation of United States sovereignty."

The measure, which is likely to gain bipartisan support, also calls for the Biden administration to continue providing information to Congress through "comprehensive" briefings of the situation, including a total accounting of all "known infiltrations" of the national airspace by China over the past few years.