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Lawmakers urge action on drone sightings
Reports of mysterious drones flying over parts of New Jersey started in mid-November. Since then, sightings have spread throughout the Northeast, and lawmakers are ramping up calls for answers.
“New Jerseyans’ patience is getting very thin, including my own,” Rep. Mikie Sherrill (D-N.J.) said Monday as she released a plan to help the federal government track and locate the unidentified drones, The Hill's Sylvan Lane reported.
“After weeks of unidentified-drone sightings over New Jersey, two things are clear: One, the drones remain unidentified and, two, the people of New Jersey need clearer, more consistent communication as to what our government is learning and doing about the drones," Sherrill said.
Sherill called for the federal government to deploy a fleet of MQ-9 Reaper drones, currently operated by Customs and Border Protection, that have special tracking capabilities. Additionally, she wants a classified hearing on the matter with House and Senate committees.
New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy (D) was briefed on the sightings Sunday and thanked the president for his support in the investigation, while also asking for more resources.
“While I am sincerely grateful for your administration’s leadership in addressing this concerning issue, it has become apparent that more resources are needed to fully understand what is behind this activity,” he wrote, adding residents “deserve more concrete information.”
Alejandro Mayorkas said there is "no evidence" to suggest the drones are a public security threat.
Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R) said in a Sunday appearance on ABC’s “This Week" that DHS needs more authority on the matter, but that to say these drone sightings are "not unusual activity, it’s just wrong." Former DHS Secretary Jeh Johnson, who served in the Obama administration, said the government struggling to identify the drones has nothing to do with resources or capability, urging patience.
GOVERNMENT FUNDING TIES
As Congress works on a short-term funding bill, two lawmakers are pushing for a counter-drone measure to be added to the coming legislation.
Reps. Chrissy Houlahan (D-Pa.) and Andrew Garbarino (R-N.Y.) sent a letter to Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) and Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) urging them to add the measure to the stopgap bill.
OTHER RESPONSES
• Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) called on DHS to “deploy special drone-detection."
• New York Gov. Kathy Hochul (D) deployed a drone detection system after drone activity shut down runways at Stewart Airport in Orange County, N.Y.
• Connecticut state Sen. Tony Hwang (R) said the situation is “alarming” and the lack of federal response is “unconscionable.”
• Former Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-Ill.) remarked in a CNN interview "[t]hey're literally all airplanes."
?Perspectives:
• The New Jersey drone scare is a privacy wake-up call (MSNBC)
• Drones and the Cost of Lost Trust (WSJ)
Read more:
• Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Ohio closed for hours due to drone activity
• Two arrested after drone flies ‘dangerously close’ to Boston airport: Police
IN OTHER NEWS
© The Hill, Greg Nash
Congress inching closer to funding deal
As it barrels toward the government shutdown deadline on Dec. 20, Congress is making progress on a funding deal.
House Appropriations Chair Tom Cole (R-Okla.) said the “differences are narrowing” across the aisle.
“It’s both between the House and the Senate and Republicans and Democrats. So, they’re both institutional differences, and there are partisan differences,” Cole said, adding “there are a lot fewer of them than there were 24 hours ago.”
Legislation text was expected over the weekend, but lawmakers hit a snag when it came to economic assistance for farmers, with both sides pointing fingers over who was to blame.
The continuing resolution (CR), which is likely the last major bit of legislation before the end of the session and the upcoming Congress, will probably include disaster aid funding for the recent hurricanes that hit North Carolina and Florida, as well as several other add-ons, including one concerning health care, reports The Hill's Aris Folley and Emily Brooks.
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