Michigan Congressman says Americans "deserve far more answers" on shot down objects

All right, joining us now is Republican Congressman Jack Bergman from Michigan. Congressman, thank you very much for joining us. You know, people smile about this topic, but it's also really serious, because we don't really know what these things are yet. And to quote you yesterday, you tweeted that the American people deserve far more answers than they've gotten so far. Tell me more about what's behind that message. Is it your impression that something is being hidden from them, that there's an unnecessary delay? What are you thinking? Well, there's a couple of things. Number one, it's an imperative for any administration to keep the American people informed, especially about odd things, anomalies that could affect the safety of all of us.

But in this particular case, because of a chain of events over time, the military and to an extent, any administration has tend to internalize information too much to the point where it's not getting out as necessary. So if you withhold too much and you classify too much, now your communications or the comfortability of your citizens, even your elected officials, we want to know what's going on, because as I heard Senator Tester say, you know, it's about appropriations. We have to appropriate the funding. But we also, as the House or the Senate, have to do the right thing for the American people in balancing all of the efforts of our administration, no matter who's in power. But the key here is we have a chance to excel. And what I mean by that is we created US Space Force a few years ago. And when you think about all things that are going on, the Air Force can't handle it all.

The Navy, the Marine Corps, the Army, this is a real ideal, I think next step for the Space Force to come into its own within the Department of Defense to help them understand what it is that's flying. Is it floating? Is it powered? Is it manned? Is it whatever it is? This is an opportunity, the Space Force, to step forward and establish its primacy in its unintended space. Do you know how involved Space Force is so far in this? We don't know because, again, we're just, we're like you all, we're waiting to hear from the Pentagon spokespeople as they release the information. We, through our back channels, are trying to get as much as we can and can share with all of our constituents as quickly as we can. But now we're in it, we all, you, me, everybody else is in a waiting game when it comes to relying on the Pentagon to release things. Yeah, Congressman, we're also in a situation where people are watching closely for escalation with China or further deterioration in the relationship. And one of the things proposed yesterday on Face to Nation by Congressman Michael McCall was the idea of blocking or preventing technology transfer sales from the US to China.

Is that something you would support as well? The short answer is yes, because we know for decades China and still is, it steals IP, intellectual property. We, as the United States, cannot afford either from a market-based standpoint or from a security standpoint to have China continue to steal the intellectual property which leads to the capabilities that we're talking about, you shooting down here. All right, Congressman Jack Bergman of Michigan's First District, the Upper Peninsula. Thank you very much. Thank you.

Chinese spy balloon, World, shot down, United States, pentagon