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right now, two separate senate committees are drilling into u.s. and china relations. in the wake of that chinese spy balloon entering the u.s. just last hour senator jon tester made the stakes abundantly clear. china s a real threat and one we need to take seriously, which is exactly why we re here today. house members this morning receiving a classified briefing on the balloon ahead of a vote scheduled just a few minutes from now to condemn china s use of a spy craft. senators are set to receive an all members briefing of their own in about 30 minutes. all of this happening as the state department is revealing fresh details about china s surveillance program this morning. and just what the balloon hovering over the u.s. was capable of. in a few moments, i ll talk to former u.s. ambassador to china max baucus about what we can learn and the very real threat posed by china. plus, fading hopes for survival, days after devastating earthquakes rocked turkey and syria ....
whirlwind visit to taiwan, meeting earlier today with the island s democratically elected president, in defiance of provocative live fire drills from china s military. and also this hour we ll talk to kentucky governor andy beshear about the search and rescue efforts as the death count rises from this week s historic floods. i ll speak to senator kirsten gillibrand about the passage of new medical benefits for burn pit victims finally. and we are on sinema watch, waiting for that 50th democratic senator to signal whether or not she will support the democrats new compromise bill to cut prescription drug costs and combat climate change. but we begin with politics. joining us now, nbc s dasha burns in kansas. nbc s vaughn hillyard in aarizona. and nbc s yamiche alcindor in st. louis. the dream team. dasha, first to you. this amazing turnout. the defeat of the amendment, the kansas state constitution. it s now becoming a rallying cry for democrats and abortion rights suppo ....
we are back with another hour of our special coverage of the hamas hostages being released today. i m chris jansing in new york. it was a long-awaited moment. just last hour we saw this convoy of vehicles with israeli hostages crossing into israel. just moments after they were handed over to the red cross ahead of their medical evaluations and reunions with loved ones. these are the faces of the 13 hostages, women and children who were in captivity for 49 days as young as 2 years old, as old as 85. israel is releasing palestinian prisoners in the exchange, women and teenage boys. that is part of this deal, and with aid trucks arriving today through the gaza-egypt border, the palestinian red crescent is warning of a dire situation inside gaza saying the needs of the palestinians are increasing. a u.n. spokesman in geneva weighing in as well. we hope it allows grieving families to honor their dead and bury them with dignity. and we hope that this humanitarian pause lead ....
Former u.s. ambassador to china and former six-term democratic senator from montana. dan, we just got new details from the state department on china s spy balloon program. what can you tell us? that s right. a senior state department official is saying that spy planes captured high resolution photos of this balloon and it had the ability to conduct signals intelligence, ie to eavesdrop on radio signals on the ground and it had multiple antennas that could geolocate communications, and it also had solar panels that were able to generate enough electricity to power that spying equipment. they re also saying that these balloons are part of a chinese military operation and that a company in china that manufactures the balloons is essentially part of the chinese defense industry and regularly supplies equipment to the chinese military. and also, there is indications also from the state department they re going to share more ....
i must tell you, i was on the senate intelligence committee, and it is almost impossible to get good information out of the u.s. intelligence committee. i must also say, i almost decided not to go because i learned from the new york times or the washington post the next day. it is hard to get the facts. it is important for the house and senate to drill down. what are the facts? i also want to make another point, let s not overstate this thing. let s not push this toward a full war with china. china is always going to be there. we have to spend more time on how to deal with china, protecting our national security at first no question about that, but we run the risk of pushing us further and further and further to a colder and colder war and that s not good for our kids and grandkids. that said, dan, we know that the biden administration said they re trying to keep these mo ....