US Senators Introduce Legislation to Track, Identify High-Altitude Balloons

U.S. Sens. Ted Budd (R-N.C.) and Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.) introduced legislation on March 15 that would enable the government to monitor and identify high-altitude balloons operating in the nation’s airspace.
Budd and Kelly put forth the SOAR Act following a flurry of U.S. military interventions last month with flying objects in the skies above the nation. (SOAR Act is the short form of Seeing Objects at Altitude Regularly Act.)
North Carolina Republican candidate for Senate, Rep. Ted Budd (R-N.C.), celebrates his Republican nomination at a primary election night watch party at Kinderton in Bermuda Run, N.C., on May 17, 2022. (Melissa Sue Gerrits/Getty Images)
A U.S. Air Force fighter jet shot down what was later determined to be a Chinese spy balloon off the coast of South Carolina on Feb. 4. The balloon had traveled from Alaska over Canada and then across the continental United States before being intercepted….}