‘Handwringing and indecision.’ McConnell pops Biden’s balloon on State of the Union night
Mitch McConnell didn’t feel the need to wait for President Biden’s State of the Union address on Tuesday to render a verdict on the first half of his presidency.
Hours before the speech, McConnell took to the Senate floor to pop the balloon on Biden’s big night, using the Chinese spy balloon as a timely event to issue a sweeping indictment of the president’s foreign policy.
“The state of our union is apparently under Chinese surveillance from our own skies…It is ludicrous to suggest that Canada and the United States had no choice but to let this thing traipse across the continent from coast to coast. President Obama’s own Defense Secretary Leon Panetta says, ‘we should have acted earlier,’” McConnell said. “The administration’s handwringing and indecision, finally downing the balloon only after it had toured the length of our country, was typical of how President Biden and his team have conducted our foreign affairs.”
The Senate GOP leader listed the swift withdrawal from Afghanistan and the initial “hesitating” to help Ukraine as Russia invaded as other signs of Biden’s weakness.
“These are just some of the reasons why 41% of Americans say the state of our union is ‘weak’ and only 13% say it’s ‘strong,’” McConnell said.
Biden mentioned Saturday’s action against the Chinese spy balloon – in which an American F-22 launched a single missile to down it off the coast of South Carolina – only briefly in his speech.
“I am committed to work with China where it can advance American interests and benefit the world,” the president said. “But make no mistake: as we made clear last week, if China threatens our sovereignty, we will act to protect our country. And we did.”
Republicans have criticized the Biden administration for waiting too long to take out the balloon, but Pentagon officials reportedly waited to strike in order to avoid putting American civilians in danger on the ground.
Juliette Kayyem, a former government official and lecturer at the Kennedy School of Government, said the size of the balloon and the infrastructure it was carrying made it too risky for potential debris.
“Seven mile diameter. You were over people, it’s not like you can land all the debris in Yellowstone or something,” Kayyem said on the Plain English podcast. “So the Republican notion of operational risk calculation was based solely on their politics.”
Rep. Andy Barr said the entire diplomatic snafu highlighted the need to pass his legislation that would prohibit U.S. investment in publicly traded securities of Chinese military companies that pose a threat to national security.
Barr professed his Chinese Military and Surveillance Company Sanctions Act would “take the air out of their next spy balloons.”
At the top of the speech, Biden made a point to congratulate McConnell for becoming the longest serving Senate leader in American history.
McConnell, dressed in a yellow and blue striped tie, the colors of the Ukrainian flag, remained seated during his call-out.
