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Five lingering questions over Ohio train derailment, toxic spill

Residents of the small town of East Palestine, Ohio are back in their homes this week following their evacuation over looming explosion fears after a train carrying 20 cars of hazardous materials derailed.

The contents of the rail cars have since been burned to prevent an explosion, while officials conducted a “controlled release” of toxic chemicals. Noxious odors have also largely dispersed from town, though still remain near some streams, according to local reports.

Questions have swirled in recent days around the root causes of the accident and whether residents should be concerned about a continued threat to land and water. It’s also raised scrutiny over safety regulations.

Here are five lingering questions about the spill:

What was on the train — and what got out?

Immediate coverage of the Norfolk Southern train derailment focused on an urgent threat — five leaking cars of vinyl chloride, a cancer-causing, explosive chemical ingredient used to make hard plastic like PVC pipe.

Faced with the risk of an explosion, emergency responders diverted the leaking vinyl chloride into a trench and burned it off — converting it into phosgene gas, used as a lethal chemical weapon in World War I.

Officials urged residents to quickly evacuate, with Gov. Mike DeWine (R) saying at a media briefing, “You need to leave. You just need to leave. This is a matter of life and death.”

Two days later, with the gas dispersed, state and local health officials declared “it is now safe for community members to return to their residences.”

But those five train cars — each potentially holding thousands of gallons of vinyl chloride — were not the only hazardous material, according to documents the train company provided to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

During the wreck, EPA investigators said they found other hazardous material-containing cars “derailed, breached and/or on fire.”

These substances included industrial solvents like ethylene glycol monobutyl ether — which can be absorbed through the skin and is toxic to liver and kidneys — and ethylhexyl acrylate, another known carcinogen that is toxic to the lungs and nervous system. 

According to the EPA, about 20 rail cars in the wreck were listed as carrying hazardous materials, and after the spill chemicals were seen running into storm drains. Other chemicals were buried on site.

These chemicals did not stay in place — all of those listed are still being released “to the air, surface soils, and surface waters,” the EPA reported.

What’s in the water?

Sulphur Run, the chemical-smelling creek that runs through East Palestine, connects through a number of waterways down to the Ohio River, snaking through a densely populated countryside dotted with towns, cities and fields.

Last week, officials in the Ohio River community of Weirton, W.Va., detected butyl acrylate — another chemical listed among the burning cars — though they aren’t sure if it came from the spill upriver, The Weirton Daily Times reported.

Further downstream in Cincinnati, officials were monitoring water intakes to see if the chemicals make it to them. If detected, officials told local station WLWT they could shut off intake valves to allow the chemical plume to drift by.

Other residents don’t have the benefit of water treatment facilities to insulate them from spills. Fish kills proliferated along Ohio River tributaries in the days after the East Palestine spill, including Little Beaver Creek, a National Scenic River, WKBN reported.

Those streams are an important site for the reintroduction of the hellbender salamander, an endangered species in Ohio — and a creature that, like other amphibians, is at particular risk from water pollution.

“We really don’t know any of the effects on the hellbender population where we’ve done the reintroduction of those in the streams. It’s gonna take time to know what the effects are,” Matthew Smith, an official with the Ohio Department of Natural Resources, told WKBN.

In a statement to The Hill, Ohio Sen. Sherrod Brown (D) called on the state and federal Environmental Protection agencies to ensure local families receive complete testing and cleanup and continued health monitoring — and to ensure Norfolk Southern pays for cleanup.

Norfolk Southern said on Monday it has performed 340 in-home air tests and thousands of outdoor tests, as well as the water supply in municipal drinking water and public and private wells — results it will release next week. 

It also announced plans to create a new monitoring system and task force to keep tabs on contamination of local water supplies. 

Did lax regulations help cause the crash?

Railroad safety experts and union members have reiterated calls for more stringent federal oversight of the rail industry following the derailment.

One area of constant tension has been brakes. Investigators from the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) received reports that crews of the Norfolk Southern train pulled the emergency brake, and a mechanical issue with one of the railcar axles was discovered, CNN reported.

The possibility of a break failure points to a behind-the-scenes battle in American railroad regulation — and a place where critics say that both parties have resisted reforms that would make Americans safer.

Most trains run on a system where wheels stop one at a time using a compression system, left-leaning news outlet The Lever reported. By contrast, electronically controlled pneumatic brake technology (ECP) halts all the cars simultaneously — dramatically reducing stopping time.

While Norfolk Southern initially touted these advances, it was also part of a coalition of rail companies that successfully fought the regulations, winning a reprieve from the Obama administration and a repeal under the Trump administration, according to the Lever.

The outlet reported that the Norfolk Southern train wasn’t regulated as a “high-hazard flammable train” even though its crash triggered a fireball.

“Railroads should not use their lobbyists to block or weaken commonsense safety measures that protect workers and communities,” Brown told The Lever. 

In his statement to The Hill, the Ohio senator called on the NTSB, which is investigating the derailment, to tell Congress and the Department of Transportation what can be done “to avert future derailments involving hazardous materials.” 

One such measure is before the agency now. Members of multiple railroad unions are fighting a potential rule that would allow trains using the new electronic brakes to travel 2,500 miles — up from 1,500 — without stopping to have their brakes tested. 

While these trains would have electronic logs, such a ledger “cannot justify reducing the frequency of inspections and repairs to train brakes in the field,” Rich Johnson of the Brotherhood of Railway Carmen said in a statement.

“Such changes will almost certainly reduce the overall safety of trains operating across the country,” Johnson added.

Will it lead to railroad reforms?

In the aftermath of the crash, railroad union leaders were quick to connect it to an issue they’ve warned about for years: that railroad layoffs and reliance on clockwork, inflexible scheduling was running them ragged and leading to disaster.

These policies, rolled out under a broader model in 2015, “pose real threats to workers and public safety,” Greg Regan, president of the Transportation Trades Department of the AFL-CIO union, wrote the head of the Federal Railroad Administration last week.

“In fact, derailments per train mile and incidents at rail yards have significantly increased on several major freight railroads since they adopted the Precision Scheduled Railroading,” Regan added.

The question of scheduling is a particularly divisive one. Last year, Congress voted to force union workers to accept a deal with railroad companies that gave them virtually no ability to take unscheduled sick time — and then narrowly voted down a plan that would have forced the companies to give sick time anyway.

Unions and progressive politicians see the recent derailment and leak as added proof that this was a bad decision that benefited railroad carrier balance sheets over public safety.

Last week, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) linked the Ohio crash to railroads’ record 2022 profits and what he characterized as chronic underinvestment in both infrastructure and staffing.

Sanders joined with Sen. Mike Braun (R-Ind.) to demand rail companies give workers at least seven days of paid sick time.

He had reason to be optimistic: CSX Transportation — one of the country’s largest railroad companies — reached a deal last week with two railroad unions to provide that amount of sick days.

In a speech, Braun framed this as a common-sense measure. “In this day and age you don’t know when you’re going to get sick. It’s going to be an issue on keeping employees long term. Where I come from, most of this stuff should be natural,” he said. 

Sanders was more pugnacious. He suggested the rest of the major rail carriers reach voluntary deals of their own. “If not, I look forward to seeing them right here,” he said, gesturing at the Senate chambers. 

Will it happen again?

About 4.5 million tons of toxic chemicals are transported through U.S. communities every year by rail, and 12,000 trains carrying hazardous materials cross through towns and cities each day, The Guardian reported.

“The Palestine wreck is the tip of the iceberg and a red flag,” Ron Kaminkow, a former Norfolk Southern freight engineer and secretary for the Railroad Workers United, told The Guardian. “If something is not done, then it’s going to get worse, and the next derailment could be cataclysmic.”

Railway safety advocates also point to reporting around near-disaster events.

The NTSB operates a confidential “close call” reporting system — which allows employees to report unsafe events and near-misses so they can be fixed. 

“Not one of the seven major U.S. freight railroads voluntarily use this program,” Regan, the AFL-CIO official, wrote in his letter to the Federal Railroad Administration.

Regan called on Congress to force rail carriers to participate in the reporting program, which he said would “create a safer freight rail system and identify potential safety issues before they lead to dangerous catastrophes.”

Without meaningful reform, he wrote, “we fear that these safety incidents will unfortunately keep happening.”

Source: TEST FEED1

Biden: 'Action is what we owe' those grieving Michigan State shooting

President Biden on Tuesday urged Congress to take action against gun violence in the wake of the shooting at Michigan State University that left three students dead and injured five others.

“Our hearts are with these young victims and their families, the broader East Lansing and Lansing communities, and all Americans across the country grieving as the result of gun violence,” Biden said in a statement.

Biden noted that the Michigan State shooting took place one day before the five-year anniversary of when a gunman killed 17 people at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla. The convergence of those two events “should cause every American to exclaim ‘enough’ and demand that Congress take action,” Biden said.

Biden reiterated his pleas from his State of the Union address last week, when he urged Congress to require background checks on all gun sales, ban assault weapons and high-capacity magazines and eliminate immunity for gun manufacturers “who knowingly put weapons of war on our streets.”

“Action is what we owe to those grieving today in Michigan and across America,” Biden said.

A gunman killed three students and wounded five others at Michigan State University late Monday, then fatally shot himself off the East Lansing campus, police said. 

The shooter opened fire at two locations on campus, an academic building and a student union area, according to authorities, prompting a hours-long manhunt as students sheltered in place. 

Biden spoke Monday night with Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (D) to offer federal resources as the state deals with the aftermath of the incident.

Biden has signed multiple executive orders on gun violence since taking office, with some focusing in particular on cracking down on the use of ghost guns that are difficult to trace. The Justice Department has also used additional funding and task forces focused on gun violence to try and address the issue.

Still, mass shootings have remained a prevalent problem. Biden administration officials have said it is a priority for the president, though they acknowledged there is only so much he can do without action from Congress.

Lawmakers last year passed a bipartisan gun safety bill in the wake of a mass shooting at an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas. The bill enhanced background checks for gun purchasers between the age of 18 and 21, made obtaining firearms through straw purchases or trafficking a federal offense and clarified the definition of a federally licensed firearm dealer.

Source: TEST FEED1

White House: No indication objects were part of China spy program

The White House on Tuesday said that they don’t have an indication that the three objects shot down by the U.S. military over the weekend were part of China’s spy program, noting though the difficulties with recovering the debris.

“While we can’t definitively say, again without analyzing the debris, what these objects were, thus far — and I caveat that by saying thus far — we haven’t seen any indication or anything that points specifically to the idea that these three objects were part of the [China’s] spy balloon program, or that they were definitively involved in external intelligence collection efforts,” national security spokesman John Kirby said.

Officials have not been able to analyze the debris because getting access to them has been difficult, considering the tough conditions where they landed when they were shot down.

When asked if there’s a possibility that the debris may never be recovered, Kirby said, “I think we’re taking this day by day and doing the best we can to try to locate the debris and then develop a plan to recover it.”

Kirby on Monday had said that the uncertainly of the surveillance capabilities of the three objects in U.S. airspace led to President Biden’s orders for the military to shoot them down. The objects were shot down by the U.S. military roughly one week after the U.S. shot down a Chinese surveillance balloon off the coast of South Carolina. 

The first object was shot down on Friday off the northern coast of Alaska, the second was shot down on Saturday over frozen territory in northern Canada, and the third was shot down on Sunday over Lake Huron.

Kirby stressed that the debris “would certainly be of immense value” in terms of identifying the objects and figuring out where they came from. 

It’s a “leading explanation” that the three objects were balloons tied to a benign or commercial entity, Kirby said. But, he added that no entity or individual has come forward to claim them. Officials have ruled out that they came from the U.S. government.

Kirby warned that “it could be some time before we locate the recovered debris” and outlined that Lake Huron, where the object on Sunday landed when it was shot down, is a deep lake. He also said that there are tough weather conditions in the three locations where the objects fell.

Source: TEST FEED1

Democrat who nearly unseated Boebert launches 2024 bid against her

Adam Frisch, the Democrat who came within half a percentage point of unseating Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-Colo.) in last year’s midterm election, is launching a 2024 bid against the congresswoman.

Frisch — who is vying for the seat in Colorado’s 3rd Congressional District — rolled out his campaign on Tuesday and will hold an in-person launch event on Wednesday.

“November’s election results show us that Boebert is weak and will be defeated, which is why I have decided to launch my 2024 congressional campaign,” Frisch said in a statement.

Frisch drew widespread headlines in November for his unexpectedly close race against Boebert. At one point, Frisch — whose only electoral experience was serving on the Aspen City Council — led the incumbent by 64 votes. 

Boebert, however, ultimately won reelection by 546 votes, a difference of .16 percentage points. The election went to an automatic recount — a Colorado requirement for races that come within half a percentage point — which confirmed Boebert’s win in the district.

Before the recount was final, however, Frisch conceded to Boebert after determining that his likelihood of changing enough votes was “very small.”

Frisch, who attended freshman orientation last year before his race was finalized, took aim at Boebert on Tuesday.

“Lauren Boebert is everything that’s wrong with Congress,” he said in his announcement video, zeroing in on her vote against certifying the results of the 2020 presidential election and her stance against abortion.

“She’s part of the anger-tainment circus that’s tearing our country apart,” he said. “I’ll put Colorado first — Colorado energy, Colorado water and Colorado jobs.”

In a statement to The Hill, Boebert’s spokesman touted the congresswoman’s legislative record and her efforts during last month’s House Speaker race.

Boebert was one of a handful of Republicans who withheld support from now-Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) to push for rules changes that would empower individual members.

“The entire country watched as Congresswoman Lauren Boebert helped fearlessly lead the way in making historic improvements to how Congress operates,” Boebert spokesman Ben Stout said. “In just a matter of weeks since then, Congresswoman Boebert has cosponsored and helped pass 6 bills and authored 4 amendments, each one passing on the House floor with bipartisan support.”

“She looks forward to continuing to serve Colorado’s 3rd Congressional District, regardless of whoever runs against her,” Stout added.

Frisch was bullish about his chances of overtaking Boebert in the 2024 cycle, noting that his campaign “only need[s] to change one vote in every precinct” to win.

“Despite her near-loss in a district that favored Republicans by 9 points, Boebert has only doubled-down on her divisive antics, attention-seeking, and angertainment that does nothing to benefit the people of Southern and Western Colorado,” Frisch said in a statement. “Out of all the extremists in congress, we’ve proven that Boebert is the only one who can be defeated.”

Source: TEST FEED1

Annual inflation hits 6.4 percent in January: CPI

Consumer prices rose 0.5 percent in January and 6.4 percent annually, according to Labor Department’s consumer price index released Tuesday, a jump in inflation which could encourage the Federal Reserve to further raise interest rates.

Core inflation, which excludes volatile food and energy prices, came in at 0.4 percent on a month-to-month basis and 5.6 percent annually.

Annual inflation continues to decline from its high of 9.1 percent in June, a 40-year high.

Still, the pace of monthly price growth accelerated in January from December, when prices rose 0.1 percent. 

Food prices rose 0.5 percent in January, while housing costs rose 0.7 percent, making up for the bulk of the increase.

Read more: The 5 weirdest things measured by the CPI

Persistent inflation may push the Fed into steeper or more interest rate hikes in an effort to slow the economy and reduce demand for goods and services. 

Earlier this month, the Fed rolled out its smallest rate hike since March 2022 as inflation appeared to ease, but that strategy could change if prices don’t fall fast enough.

Fed Governor Michelle Bowman said Monday that inflation “continues to be much too high.”

She said additional rate hikes are necessary to bring inflation down to the Fed’s 2 percent target, even if they cause economic pain. 

“While there are costs and risks to tightening monetary policy to lower inflation, I see the costs and risks of allowing inflation to persist as far greater,” Bowman said. 

On the year, grocery prices are up 11.3 percent, energy prices are up 8.7 percent and housing costs are up 7.9 percent, putting a dent in Americans’ finances.

The price of used cars is one of the few areas where inflation is easing, with prices dropping 11.6 percent annually after skyrocketing in previous years.

Source: TEST FEED1

Gunman kills 3 at Michigan State University before killing himself

A gunman killed three people and wounded five others at Michigan State University late Monday, then fatally shot himself off the East Lansing campus, police said. 

The shooter opened fire at two locations on campus, an academic building and a student union area, according to authorities, prompting a multi-hour manhunt as students sheltered in place.  

Police found the suspect, a 43-year-old man whose name was not released, dead of a self-inflicted gunshot wound in Lansing, Michigan State University Police and Public Safety Interim Deputy Chief Chris Rozman told reporters early Tuesday morning. 

The suspect is “not affiliated in any way” with the university, and isn’t a student, faculty or staff member, Rozman noted.

“There is no threat to campus. We believe there to only be one shooter in this incident. And there is no longer a need to shelter in place on campus,” Rozman said. 

“We have absolutely no information right now on what the motive is, and I can’t even begin to imagine what that motive might be,” the deputy chief added.

Police did not confirm Tuesday whether the victims were university students, but noted that all five injured victims are at a local hospital and remain in critical condition, Rozman said. 

“It’s hard to describe the agony we’re feeling in East Lansing tonight. Our hearts are breaking for the families of the students who were killed, for those who have been injured, and for the entire Spartan community,” Rep. Elissa Slotkin (D-Mich.) tweeted early Tuesday.

“The Spartan family is strong, and as devastating as tonight has been, I know that Michiganders and Americans of all stripes are wrapping their arms around East Lansing and our Spartans to mourn alongside us and to lift us up,” Slotkin, whose district includes East Lansing, said.

The incident at Michigan State University came one day before the five-year anniversary of the mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla., where a gunman killed 14 students and three staff members.

It also comes on the heels of several mass shootings this year alone, including an incident that left 11 people dead in Monterey Park, Calif., amid Lunar New Year celebrations.

–Updated at 8:05 a.m.

Source: TEST FEED1

Nikki Haley announces presidential campaign, strikes optimistic tone in launch video

Former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley (R) early on Tuesday officially announced her presidential campaign.

“Get excited! Time for a new generation,” Haley wrote on Twitter. “Let’s do this!”

“I was the proud daughter of Indian immigrants — not Black, not white. I was different,” the former United Nations ambassador says in a video announcing the launch of her campaign, striking an optimistic tone.

“My mom would always say your job is not to focus on the differences but the similarities. My parents reminded me and my siblings every day how blessed we were to live in America,” Haley says.

“Some look at our past as evidence that America’s founding principles are bad. They say the promise of freedom is just made up. Some think our ideas are not just wrong, but racist and evil. Nothing could be further from the truth.”

Haley becomes the first Republican candidate to challenge former President Trump, who announced his 2024 campaign last November.

Haley’s entrance into the race has been expected for months. While she said nearly two years ago that she would not challenge Trump for the 2024 nod if he decided to mount another bid for the White House, that didn’t stop her from laying the groundwork for a campaign. 

After leaving the Trump administration, she founded her own outside group, “Stand for America,” to boost GOP candidates ahead of the 2022 midterm elections. She’s also stayed active on the national media circuit. 

In an interview with Fox News in January, she signaled that she was still weighing a White House bid, saying that the country needed a new generation to step up in 2024 and offering herself as potential leader. 

“It’s bigger than one person. And when you’re looking at the future of America, I think it’s time for new generational change. I don’t think you need to be 80 years old to go be a leader in D.C.,” Haley told the network. “I think we need a young generation to come in, step up, and really start fixing things.”

Her announcement was also expected by Trump, who disclosed in late January that he had spoken to Haley about a White House bid and said he encouraged her to do so. 

But Haley’s campaign launch also puts her in direct contention with Trump, who appointed her as his envoy to the U.N. just after taking office in 2017. The former president is running to reclaim the White House in 2024, and has made clear that he believes he is the GOP’s rightful nominee, even as other Republicans consider their own bids.

For now, it’s unclear where Haley stands in the GOP field. Early polling suggests that Trump and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R), who has not yet announced a campaign, are the top two Republican favorites to win the presidential nod. 

At the same time, Haley irked many Republicans two years ago when she appeared to criticize Trump in the wake of the Jan. 6, 2021 riot at the U.S. Capitol. Still, Haley has a winning track record to fall back on; she’s never lost a race for public office in her political career.

–Developing

Source: TEST FEED1

The Hill's Morning Report — No space aliens but scarce info about UFOs

Editor’s note: The Hill’s Morning Report is our daily newsletter that dives deep into Washington’s agenda. To subscribe, click here or fill out the box below.

Lawmakers’ lists of questions outnumber U.S. government answers about a Chinese spy balloon and a trio of mysterious aerial objects shot down between Alaska and the Great Lakes over the weekend.

That situation became untenable by Monday as howls from frustrated lawmakers grew louder, so federal officials this morning plan a classified briefing for senators despite concessions that significant information about the vaguely described objects detected above Alaska, Canada and Michigan is unclear. Debris from the objects shot down by fighter jets over remote, frigid terrain and over Lake Huron has yet to be retrieved, according to officials.

The White House says President Biden and the North American Aeronautic Defense Command (NORAD) scrambled fighter jets to shoot down the unexplained objects because they posed a potential threat to civilian aircraft, although such detection appeared to be a new experience for NORAD. 

Reuters: U.S. still stumped by latest flying objects as friction with China grows. 

Even the wreckage of the Chinese surveillance balloon, downed by a Sidewinder missile over shallow water off the coast of South Carolina 10 days ago, is taking the Navy and Coast Guard weeks to retrieve, let alone assess to help determine what Beijing wanted with data gathered over the continental United States by a floating 10-story orb. The balloon and its protruding electronics were initially detected by the United States on Jan. 28.

Senators will receive a separate classified briefing about China on Wednesday (The Hill).

In the absence of answers, there will be an abundance of assessment. The Biden administration on Monday announced the formation of an interagency task force “to study the broader policy implications for detection, analysis and disposition of unidentified aerial objects that pose either safety or security risks,” National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said at a White House press briefing (NBC News).

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) echoed some of his colleagues when he went to the Senate floor to complain.

“What in the world is going on? Has the Biden administration just dialed the sensitivity of our radars all the way up? If so, what are the objects that we are just now noticing for the very first time?” the senator said. “Are they benign science projects and wayward weather balloons or something more nefarious that we’ve somehow been missing all this time?” (The Hill).

“President Biden owes the American people some answers,” McConnell continued. “What are we shooting down? Where do they come from? Whether they are hostile or not, is there coherent guidance about when to shoot them down? … How did we get into a position where the greatest nation in the world doesn’t know what is traversing our own airspace?”

Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin conceded on Monday that the United States could not “definitively assess” the purpose, capabilities or origins of the aerial objects (The Hill).

One was initially described by a Canadian official on Saturday as cylindrical and about the size of a small automobile. Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) over the weekend said the White House told him that all three objects were “balloons.” The object spotted over Lake Huron was described as octagon-shaped and may have fallen after a missile strike to land on the Canadian side of the lake. U.S. officials said the flight pattern of the three objects was justification to blow them out of the sky.

“We don’t know if they were actually collecting intelligence, but because of the route that they took, out of an abundance of caution, we want to make sure that we have the ability to examine what these things are and potentially what they were doing,” Austin told reporters after landing in Brussels on Monday.

The White House may not know what the objects are, but it has ruled out alien invaders. “There is no — again, no — indication of aliens or extraterrestrial activity with these recent takedowns,” White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters.

▪ The Hill: What we know and don’t know aboutthe objects shot down by the U.S. military.

▪ Bloomberg News: Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Chinese diplomat Wang Xi may meet this week during a Munich conference. Blinken canceled this month’s planned meeting in Beijing with Chinese President Xi Jinping in protest over the Chinese spy balloon publicly detected when it moved over Montana at high altitude.

▪ The Hill: The White House denied China’s assertion on Monday that more than 10 U.S. surveillance balloons moved across that country since the beginning of 2022. “Just absolutely not true,” Kirby told MSNBC.

During an exclusive interview with The Hill’s Niall Stanage, former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, who says he is mulling a 2024 GOP presidential campaign, criticized Biden for his reaction to the Chinese balloon that traversed the country.

“The whole world saw a slow-moving balloon transiting Montana, Kansas, South Carolina — and the United States of America did nothing,” said Pompeo, a former member of Congress from Kansas.

Tracking the balloon for days delivered “an enormous geopolitical advantage” for China, the former CIA director contended. “I can’t imagine that the risk of some falling debris over a place like Montana exceeded the risk of global shame.”

Related Articles

▪ The Hill: Former Trump administration national security adviser John Bolton to receive a Wednesday briefing about previous incursions by spy balloons. 

▪ The Atlantic: China’s balloon-size blunder is a huge opportunity.

▪ The Hill: A Georgia judge on Monday ordered limited release from a grand jury report of information related to former President Trump and alleged 2020 election interference. 

▪ The Hill: A lawyer who represents Trump said his client used an empty folder marked classified to block blue light from a telephone in his bedroom at night. 

LEADING THE DAY

➤ CONGRESS 

The anticipated GOP impeachment case against Alejandro Mayorkas would remove the Homeland Security secretary largely based on a law that gives him broad discretion over how to meet a near impossible standard at the border, The Hill’s Rebecca Beitsch and Rafael Bernal report. The Secure Fence Act of 2006 was passed during a failed Bush-era effort to move a comprehensive immigration reform bill, and in the fallout, House Republicans rushed to show they were taking action on border security. 

Now, Republicans argue that Mayorkas has been ineffective in managing what they see as a crisis at the southern border. 

“He has taken an oath, a constitutional oath, to obey the laws of the United States and protect us,” said Rep. Pat Fallon (R-Texas), who this year filed the first articles of impeachment against Mayorkas. “In 2006, the Secure Fence Act was passed which requires the Department of Homeland Security Secretary to maintain the operational control of the southern border. He has clearly not done that.”

House Republicans are officially relaunching their investigation into the origins of the COVID-19 pandemic by calling for testimony and information from Anthony Fauci and other current and former Biden administration officials. The 12-member coronavirus response subcommittee is charged with examining the origins of the pandemic, including federal funding of what’s known as gain-of-function research, or research that enhances a virus’s ability to cause an infection in order to predict pandemics and develop cures. The examination of this research is central to the claim the virus originated from a lab in Wuhan, China, that was potentially backed by funding from the U.S. government. Last year, Republicans on the House Foreign Affairs Committee released a report concluding the pandemic began with a virus that escaped from the Wuhan lab.

Aside from Fauci’s testimony, the lawmakers are seeking phone records, official calendars and other communications from the National Institutes of Health and the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases regarding the Wuhan Institute of Virology and any federal grants to EcoHealth Alliance (The Hill).

Lawmakers on Monday removed from his position the U.S. architect of the Capitol “at the president’s direction.” The move comes after calls for J. Brett Blanton to resign or be removed from office following the October release of an inspector general report alleging a litany of ethical breaches, including misusing a government vehicle and allegedly impersonating a law enforcement officer.

The president’s move comes just hours after Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) called for Blanton to step down or be removed by Biden. Only the president has the authority to fire the Architect of the Capitol. Blanton was nominated by Trump to a 10-year term, and was confirmed by the Senate in December 2019 (Roll Call and The Hill).

“After being given the opportunity to respond to numerous allegations of legal, ethical, and administrative violations, and failing to directly respond, the President has removed Mr. Brett Blanton from his position — a decision I firmly stand behind,” House Administration Committee ranking member Joseph Morelle (D-N.Y.) said in a statement Monday. “President Biden did the right thing and heeded my call for action. I look forward to working with my colleagues to begin a search for a new Architect immediately.” 

▪ The New York Times: GOP legislative agenda hits snags amid party divisions.

▪ The Washington Post: Congress could block additional weapons and aid to Ukraine, the U.S. has warned Kyiv while encouraging progress at the one-year mark of the war against Russia. “‘As long as it takes’ pertains to the amount of conflict,” an official told the Post, referring to Biden’s much-quoted U.S. assurances. “It doesn’t pertain to the amount of assistance.”

IN FOCUS/SHARP TAKES

➤ INTERNATIONAL

Thousands of rescue operations are still underway across Turkey and Syria as workers race against the clock in their search for survivors, one week after a pair of devastating earthquakes tore through the region, killing more than 37,000. Humanitarian groups say the delay in aid has severely hampered rescuers’ abilities to pull people out of the rubble alive; even now, Syrians are waiting for the kind of heavy machinery and specialized tools available on the Turkish side of the border.

Hundreds of thousands of people in both countries are injured or homeless, with many living in makeshift tents or in their cars; meanwhile, there are growing reports of looting and insecurity in some of the hardest-hit areas (The Washington Post). Rescuers in Turkey pulled several children alive from collapsed buildings on Monday, but hopes of many more survivors were fading and criticism of the authorities grew (Reuters).

The New York Times: Some structures promoted as being built to modern seismic codes did not withstand the quake in Turkey. One upscale tower that fell may have had a design flaw, engineers said.

The eastern Ukrainian city of Bakhmut endured heavy artillery fire on Monday as a major new Russian offensive began, days before the first anniversary of Moscow’s invasion. Ukrainian defenders, who have already held out for months, were braced for new ground attacks, local military officials said. Bakhmut is a prime objective for Russian President Vladimir Putin; its capture would give Russia a new foothold in the Donetsk region and a rare victory after several months of setbacks.

“The reality is we have seen the start (of a Russian offensive) already because we see now what Russia does now — President Putin does now — is to send thousands and thousands more troops, accepting a very high rate of casualty,” NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg told reporters (Reuters).

▪ The New York Times: The order for aid groups to leave Bakhmut could be a prelude to Ukrainian withdrawal.

▪ The Wall Street Journal: Ukraine faces painful choice as Russia tightens chokehold on Bakhmut.

▪ The Washington Post: Russians abandon wartime Russia in historic exodus.

▪ Reuters: The United States tells its citizens: Leave Russia immediately.

A battle over the future of Israel’s judiciary grew more fraught on Monday as roughly 100,000 protesters from across the country filled the streets outside parliament in Jerusalem. The demonstrators gathered to oppose a sweeping judicial overhaul proposed by Israel’s new government — the most right-wing and religiously conservative in the country’s history. The changes would reduce the Supreme Court’s ability to revoke laws passed in parliament and give the government greater influence over who gets to be a judge (The New York Times). Israeli lawmakers, meanwhile, traded insults on Monday over the plans as the president warned the country was on the brink of “constitutional collapse” (Reuters).

The Hill: Report finds LBQ women face discrimination, violence in countries around the world.

⛷️Overall World Cup winners Mikaela Shiffrin, Federica Brignone and Aleksander Aamodt Kilde are among nearly 200 athletes from multiple disciplines who have signed a letter addressed to the International Ski and Snowboard Federation demanding action over climate change. Warm weather and a lack of snow wiped out nearly a month of racing at the start of this season, with preseason training on melting European glaciers heading toward extinction and the impact of climate change on the schedule being seen even in January (ABC News). 

“We are already experiencing the effects of climate change in our everyday lives and our profession,” the athletes said in the letter. “The public opinion about skiing is shifting towards unjustifiability. … We need progressive organizational action. We are aware of the current sustainability efforts of FIS and rate them as insufficient.”

➤ STATE WATCH

Biden referenced the U.S. housing affordability crisis briefly during his State of the Union speech a week ago, leaving some industry leaders and advocates grousing about a missed opening to lay out a comprehensive housing plan and address fair housing practices. As The Hill’s Adam Barnes and Sylvan Lane report, the U.S. is short at least 1 million homes amid one of the most volatile housing markets in more than a decade. And since the beginning of the pandemic both rents and home purchase prices have soared. 

▪ The Hill: These cities have the fastest-growing home prices.

▪ Markets Insider: U.S. home prices are heading for a further drop this year even though mortgages are getting cheaper, a housing market expert says.

▪ The Hill: Consumer price index calculation to be revised for January price data.

In the District, “The Ethel,” a permanent supportive apartment option for the homeless, located in Southeast Washington, is named after Ethel Kennedy, 94, and was dedicated at a Monday event with Mayor Muriel Bowser (D) (WUSA9). 

The Hill: States that have disclosure requirements for fracking have higher water quality, according to a new report that studied impacts in Arkansas, Colorado, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Montana, New Mexico, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Texas, Utah, West Virginia and Wyoming.  

Residents of East Palestine, Ohio, were cleared to return home Friday following the massive chemical spill that followed a train derailment. But questions swirled over the weekend around the root causes of the accident, the continued threat to land and water, and the arrest of a journalist by authorities (NPR and NBC News).

▪ Fox News: Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) called on Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg for “direct action” and a congressional inquiry following the recent Ohio train derailment. Ohio Sen. J.D. Vance (R) said Monday that “many questions remain.”

▪ The Cincinnati Enquirer: East Palestine residents seek medical care after Ohio train derailment.

▪ WBNS: Ohio train derailment prompts water utility to take precautions.

▪ CBS News: Video shows sparks and flames well before Ohio train derailment.

OPINION

■ Nikki Haley has a great future behind her, by Stuart Stevens, opinion contributor, The New York Times. https://nyti.ms/3E31ZgJ

■ Beyond political gridlock: A congressional road map for 2023, by Kelly Veney Darnell and Michele Nellenbach, opinion contributors, The Hill. https://bit.ly/3E4qYAr 

WHERE AND WHEN

💗 Happy Valentine’s Day!

📲 Ask The Hill: Share a news query tied to an expert journalist’s insights: The Hill launched something new and (we hope) engaging via text with Editor-in-Chief Bob Cusack. Learn more and sign up HERE.

The House will convene for a pro forma session at 10 a.m.

The Senate meets at 10 a.m. 

The president and Vice President Harris will receive the President’s Daily Brief at 10:30 a.m. Biden will be the keynote speaker at 1:15 p.m. at a conference of the National Association of Counties in Washington and then return to the White House. 

The Secretary of State at 1:30 p.m. will meet with United Arab Emirates Foreign Minister Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan at the State Department.

Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen will speak to the National Association of Counties conference at 9:50 a.m.

Economic indicators: The Bureau of Labor Statistics at 8:30 a.m. will report on January’s consumer price index and real earnings in January. The Hill’s ​​Riley Gutiérrez McDermid dissects five oddities measured as part of the price index, from olives to sewing machines.

White House turnstile: Biden is poised to name Federal Reserve Vice Chair Lael Brainard as director of the White House National Economic Council, to succeed Brian Deese, who is departing (The Wall Street Journal).

The White House daily press briefing is scheduled at 2:30 p.m.

ELSEWHERE

➤ TECH

The race is on among tech companies to roll out generative artificial intelligence tools as Microsoft and Google forge ahead to release new tools to the public, writes The Hill’s Rebecca Klar. The battle is raising concerns about how potential flaws in the tech, and blindspots in regulation, heighten existing issues about the spread of misinformation, bias in results and the use of Americans’ personal data by tech companies. 

The labor market looks rock solid, with an unemployment rate at its lowest level in 50 years and a downward trend for layoffs. But there’s one glaring exception — the tech industry. Nearly every major tech company has announced layoffs in the last few months, which is exactly the opposite of how things played out over the last decade, when the sector was a bright spot in an otherwise sluggish job market. So what’s going on? Bloomberg News has answers.

▪ CBS News: “AI can be a friend or a foe”: As we become more reliant on artificial intelligence, focus should be on balance, expert says.

▪ Business Insider: The artificial intelligence war has Wall Street in a frenzy over Google, Microsoft and anything related to bots.

▪ Reuters: Silicon Valley layoffs are a boon for tech-hungry farm equipment makers.

▪ TechCrunch: Here are the tech industry’s 2023 Super Bowl commercials, with noticeably less crypto.

➤ HEALTH & PANDEMIC 

Weekend news: The Centers for Disease and Prevention says an outbreak of drug-resistant bacteria across 12 states has caused one death and five cases of blindness. According to the CDC, 56 patients were infected with pseudomonas aeruginosa, likely from using a brand of contaminated artificial tears (WFLA).

“Patients reported over 10 different brands of artificial tears and some patients used multiple brands,” the CDC warned. “EzriCare Artificial Tears, a preservative-free, over-the-counter product packaged in multidose bottles, was the brand most commonly reported. This was the only common artificial tears product identified across the four healthcare facility clusters.”

A woman in Florida filed a lawsuit late Thursday against the maker of EzriCare artificial tears and Walmart after suffering a bacterial infection that she said was caused by the eyedrops (NBC News).

⚠️ In a separate report, the CDC says nearly 3 in 5 teenage girls reported feeling persistent sadness in 2021, double the rate of boys, and 1 in 3 girls seriously considered attempting suicide, according to data released Monday. The findings also showed high levels of violence, depression and suicidal thoughts among lesbian, gay and bisexual youth, of which more than 1 in 5 of these students reported attempting suicide in the year before the survey. The rates of sadness are the highest reported in a decade, reflecting a long-brewing national tragedy only made worse by the isolation and stress of the pandemic.

“I think there’s really no question what this data is telling us,” Kathleen Ethier, head of the CDC’s Adolescent and School Health Program, told The New York Times. “Young people are telling us that they are in crisis.”

▪ The Washington Post: Capitalizing on the pandemic explosion in telehealth and therapy apps that collect details of your mental health needs, data brokers are packaging that information for resale, a new study finds. There’s no law stopping them.

▪ Vox: The number of people without health insurance just hit a new low — but the expiration of a pandemic policy could erase those gains.

▪ The Atlantic: The future of long COVID-19.

Information about the availability of COVID-19 vaccine and booster shots can be found at Vaccines.gov.

Total U.S. coronavirus deaths reported as of this morning, according to Johns Hopkins University (trackers all vary slightly): 1,114,546. Current U.S. COVID-19 deaths are 3,171 for the week, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (The CDC shifted its tally of available data from daily to weekly, now reported on Fridays.)

THE CLOSER

And finally … 💘 It’s Valentine’s Day! On a Hallmark day associated with sweet amore, The New York Times asks the burning question: Did Valentine’s Day start as a Roman party or to celebrate an execution? 

Regardless of its origin, the holiday lives on, and CBS News estimates Americans will spend nearly $26 billion on Valentine’s Day this year, up from $23.9 billion last year, to communicate affection, passion, appreciation and obligation using cards, blossoms and that satisfying obsession known as chocolate — plus treats for four-legged furry Valentines beloved by humans everywhere. 

💐 Modern floriography can be traced back to the 19th century, when the etiquette standards of the day meant that flowers were sent to communicate messages that could not be said aloud. Sending a bouquet of roses is a traditional way of saying “I love you,” but you can choose a varied bunch of blooms to tell your Valentine something more specific. USA Today has a primer on flower meanings (and it’s not too late to buy a bouquet today).

Stay Engaged

We want to hear from you! Email: Alexis Simendinger and Kristina Karisch. Follow us on Twitter (@asimendinger and @kristinakarisch) and suggest this newsletter to friends!

How a Bush-era law requiring border ‘perfection’ stands at center of GOP impeachment case  

A budding GOP impeachment case against Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas is relying on a 2006 law that says operational control of the border means the prevention “of all unlawful entries” to the United States — a standard seen as impossible to meet.  

The Secure Fence Act of 2006 was passed during a failed Bush-era effort to move a comprehensive immigration reform bill. In the fallout, House Republicans rushed to show they were taking action on border security, requiring the installation of intermittent fencing along the southern border.  

But a provision of the law defining operational control is now at the center of the new House GOP majority’s effort to impeach Mayorkas, who is accused of lying to Congress when he’s said the border is secure.  

“Secretary Mayorkas does not think that the border is open. He thinks that he has operational control, although the Secure Fence Act of 2006 clearly defines what operational control of a border is, and that means that no contraband or individual can come into the country illegally,” said Rep. Andy Biggs, a conservative Republican from Arizona and one of two members who have formally introduced articles of impeachment against Mayorkas. 

“And yet, under his watch, Secretary Mayorkas has allowed in approximately 5 million illegal aliens coming through, and that doesn’t include got-aways,” added Biggs.

Republicans argue that Mayorkas has been ineffective in managing what they see as a crisis, as record numbers of migrants attempt to cross the southern border. It’s a failure they contend is a violation of his oath of office. 

“He has taken an oath, a constitutional oath, to obey the laws of the United States and protect us,” said Rep. Pat Fallon (R-Texas), who this year filed the first articles of impeachment against Mayorkas.   

 “In 2006, the Secure Fence Act was passed which requires the Department of Homeland Security Secretary to maintain the operational control of the southern border. He has clearly not done that,” Fallon said.  

Democrats and other critics of the GOP case argue that the differences between Republicans and Mayorkas are largely policy issues that don’t rise to the level of impeachment. 

“Impeachment covers treason, bribery and other high crimes and misdemeanors. It’s not typically envisioned as covering policy disputes, or disagreements on policy, which seems like what these are,” said Dave Rapallo, a Georgetown Law professor who also worked with Democrats on the impeachment of former President Trump. 

He and others argue that the 2006 law lays out an impossible standard — but includes clear language that gives the secretary the discretion to determine how to meet it. 

“Congress has delegated to the secretary of Homeland Security the decision to determine what is ‘necessary and appropriate.’ And that’s what the department is doing. There may be a difference of opinion about whether that happens with walls or other mechanisms to prevent unlawful entry,” Rapallo said. “But if the standard is that not one migrant can get into the United States, that’s a standard no secretary of Homeland Security would ever meet.” 

Doris Meissner, who ran the Immigration and Naturalization Service under former President Clinton and how heads the U.S. Immigration Policy Program at the Migration Policy Institute, said the standard “isn’t something that we ask of any other law enforcement regime.”

Previous Homeland Security secretaries, Democrats and Republicans, have not been removed over the standard highlighted by Biggs and Fallon.  

“The assumption with having law enforcement at all, is that there are laws and there will be a degree to which laws are broken, and law enforcement, and law enforcement systems, and structures are in place to keep them to a minimum and to create accountability if they do happen,” said Meissner. 

Biggs himself acknowledged the standard that no one or thing can enter the country illegally for the DHS secretary to not be impeached is a high one. But he argues Mayorkas still deserves to be impeached because of how he has handled border security.  

“While that particular statute requires perfection, which we all recognize is an impossible task, the American public still trusts him to do his very best to secure operational control of the border. He necessarily has the ‘public trust,’ and as a Cabinet secretary, he is a public man,” he wrote in an op-ed shortly after introducing his resolution. 

“The case against Alejandro Mayorkas … does not necessarily turn on whether Mayorkas has actually committed a statutorily defined black-letter crime. It is whether he has committed a ‘high crime’ as that term is understood under the U.S. Constitution.” 

The fencing bill was passed after two competing comprehensive immigration reform bills moved through the House and Senate in 2005. 

The House version, led by former Rep. Jim Sensenbrenner (R-Wis.), was a security-focused immigration crackdown; the Senate version led by former Sens. John McCain (R-Ariz.) and Ted Kennedy (D-Mass.) paired border security and guest worker provisions with a broad legalization program for undocumented immigrants. 

To no one’s surprise, the House and Senate were unable to find a middle ground in conference, and the two bills failed in the lead-up to the 2006 midterm elections. 

“There really was a strong feeling, in the Senate in particular, that people had to go home with something to show for immigration, in order to be running their campaigns, and having some kind of a message to take back to their constituents,” said Meissner.  

“So they passed this act quite hurriedly in October of 2006, right on the cusp of the elections. It just had this sort of sweeping mandate, which really hadn’t been tested or vetted with the executive branch,” she added. 

Rep. Michael McCaul (R-Texas), one of the co-sponsors of the 2006 border bill, described the legislation as tasking the Homeland Security secretary to determine where to put fencing. 

“It was our intention to put a fence not everywhere but where it made sense to put the fence on the border, you know, [in] more populated areas to have the infrastructure in place to stop illegal crossings,” he said, noting along with specific mileage of fencing, “we gave discretion to the secretary to use his or her judgment as to where to put it.” 

McCaul, a stern Mayorkas critic who has directly admonished the secretary in hearings, has likewise criticized members of his party for rushing a process he said should be handled by committees of jurisdiction who can investigate and build a strong case for impeachment.  

“You can make the case to the American people without having to do it overnight. We criticized the Democrats for impeaching Trump in one day. … We shouldn’t make that same mistake,” he told The Hill. 

Mayorkas and his department are now gearing up for a fight.  

The department initially declined to assign specific staff to deal with impeachment, but on Friday confirmed it had hired an outside law firm to aid in any eventual impeachment hearings. 

It’s also shifted tone in its public statements on impeachment developments, attacking the credibility of the resolutions directly. 

“Instead of pointing fingers and trying to score political points, the Members of Congress recklessly and baselessly pursuing impeachment should work on legislative solutions for our broken immigration system,” DHS said last week when Biggs’s resolution was introduced.  

Republicans have rolled out other arguments for impeachment, including one that mirrors a recent lawsuit from a number of GOP-led states challenging a program that allows 30,000 migrants from Cuba, Nicaragua, Haiti and Venezuela to be “paroled” into the country each month, while quickly expelling to Mexico an equal number of migrants from those countries who show up at the border. 

The resolution deems the current use of parole an abuse, calling it a way to “‘legally’ admit aliens.” 

Biggs and other Republicans are also basing their impeachment case on a broader claim — dismissed as a conspiracy theory by Democrats — that the Biden administration is intentionally loosening border controls. 

“First of all, when we look at that intentionality, this is done intentionally,” Biggs told reporters last week. “This is not negligence, it is not by accident. It is not incompetence, and how do we know that? Well, just like we look at a culpable mental state, like intentionality or knowledge, we look at a totality of circumstances.” 

Biggs said the evidence of intention is in Mayorkas ending a series of Trump-era border policies, a move that many Republicans believe is the direct cause of increased migration in the Western Hemisphere, presumably knowing his policies would result in increased border crossings. 

But whether Republican leadership decides to forward any impeachment resolution, the process could face a substantial roadblock in the Democratic-controlled upper chamber. 

“A majority of the House could just decide to impeach the secretary based on whatever it puts in its resolution,” Rapallo said. “But that’s highly unlikely to go anywhere in the Senate.” 

Source: TEST FEED1

Spy balloon and unidentified objects put China threat center stage  

Senators on Wednesday will receive their second briefing in two weeks on the rising military threat posed by China, an issue that is fast emerging as the biggest area of shared concern between Republicans and Democrats on Capitol Hill.  

Some lawmaker and experts see escalating tensions with China as the dawn of a new Cold War that will require a major ramp up military- and technology-related spending on stealth bombers, semiconductors, artificial intelligence and communications technology.  

There’s also a growing push among lawmakers to crack down on TikTok, which is headquartered in Beijing, and on Chinese cyber operations that have harvested millions of Americans’ personal information. 

Lawmakers say the flight of a Chinese surveillance balloon across Alaska and the continental United States has exposed a worrisome gap in U.S. air defenses and exposed a general lack of preparedness for a military conflict with China.  

“There is a rising wave of concern and it’s bipartisan about the clear and present danger that China represents right now,” Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) said.  

Blumenthal said the timing of the balloon’s flight across the United States days before Secretary of State Antony Blinken was scheduled to travel to Beijing to meet with China’s minister of foreign affairs was a display of Chinese “arrogance and recklessness.” 

Veteran senators say they’re getting a sense of deja vu reminding them of mentality in Washington and across the country during the Cold War, which spanned four decades of military and economic tensions between the United States and former Soviet Union.  

“I can remember when things that were communist or Soviet were suspect. I think China is going through right now because of their decision to support [Russian President Vladimir] Putin in Ukraine,” said Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin (Ill.), who noted that some countries in Eastern Europe are losing enthusiasm for Chinese investment because of the war.  

Durbin said “there’s no question” that Congress is focusing more on the threat posed by China.  

“It raises concerns because I can remember the days of the Cold War. This is a different situation but it’s the type of the thing that the United States cannot and should not ignore,” he said.  

Senators also vented their frustration Monday over the lack of information about three more objects that U.S. fighter planes shot down over Alaska, Canada and Lake Huron in recent days.  

“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 Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) asked on the Senate floor.  

Senators are scheduled to receive two classified briefings this week.  

The first at 10 a.m. Tuesday will cover the unidentified objects shot down on Friday, Saturday and Sunday.  

National Security Council spokesman John Kirby told reporters Monday “we don’t know who owns them.”  

The second briefing will take place at 3 p.m. Wednesday and will focus more broadly on U.S.-Chinese relations.  

“I think they’re probably going to drill down a little more on the relationship, particularly in light of what’s happening. A lot’s happened since the last briefing last week, you got three more balloons that have been shot down,” Senate Republican Whip John Thune (S.D.) said. 

Thune said the threat posed by China is now one of the top issues on Capitol Hill.  

“If you don’t get national security right, the rest is conversation,” he said. “It’s very high on the list.”  

Senators and policy experts are asking whether the United States would have the ability to send enough weapons to Taiwan to fight off a Chinese invasion given the strain supporting the war in Ukraine has had on American stockpiles.  

“I don’t think we’re ready. We need to get ready,” said Sen. John Cornyn (Texas), an adviser to the Senate GOP leadership when asked if the Pentagon would face difficulties arming both Taiwan and Ukraine in two separate regional conflicts without compromising U.S. military preparedness.  

Michael O’Hanlon, the director of the Strobe Talbott Center for Security, Strategy and Technology at the Brookings Institution, pointed out the Unite States already spends “quite a bit more on defense now than we did during the Cold War in inflation-adjusted dollars.” 

But he expects the defense budget could keep on growing despite recent calls for fiscal reform on Capitol Hill.  

“I expect that sustained defense budget increases of at least modest magnitude still make sense and still may happen despite the size of the debt and deficit,” he said.  

O’Hanlon said “a good part of what we have been doing for five years” to increase the Pentagon’s budget has been aimed at deterring Chinese aggression.  

Other policy experts say there’s still a lot more work needs to be done to counter China’s global ambitions.  

“What the balloon incident really laid bare is how not on our game we are,” said Danielle Pletka, a senior fellow in foreign and defense policy studies at the American Enterprise Institute.  

“I think this has been a big wake up call,” she said. “Our hope is that it’s a cold war. The way that China seems to be planning, it doesn’t seem to be cold.  

“China is intent on creating a world that is subservient to China’s interests,” she added. “It is an ideological fight as it was with the Soviet Union, it’s also very much a nationalist fight as well because Chinese communist dogma may be robust but at the end of the day they’re also very aggressively nationalistic.”  

Lawmakers are expected to ramp up discussions on strengthening the U.S. military posture in the Pacific and alliances with Asian countries to contain China and reducing the dependence of the American economy on Chinese technology and products.  

“There’s no question we need invest more and better and smarter in defense,” Pletka said.  

She also cited vulnerabilities in the supply chain and the need “to clarify our alliances.”  

“The reality is that as long as China is part of our technology supply chain, the notion that we are somehow developing some sort of independence is ridiculous,” she added. “We need to decouple strategic industries.  

Sen. Thom Tillis (N.C.), a counselor to the Senate Republican leadership, said the COVID-19 pandemic exposed an overreliance on Chinese imports.  

“We can’t forget where we were two years ago at the height of COVID,” he said. “This isn’t about us becoming self-sufficient but not having the reliance we have on that part of the world.” 

Tillis said that at last year’s NATO summit in Madrid, “the ‘strategic concept’ noted China multiple times after never having ever identified it as a threat to the NATO countries.” 

Source: TEST FEED1