Biden must close the visa ‘loophole’ allowing Chinese to SPY on U.S. troops in Guam warns top Republican Joni Ernst – and says Sen. Tuberville’s military nominations blockade hurts American ‘heroes’ AND national security

Republican Senator Joni Ernst warns that China “continues to exploit America” ​​through a “loophole” that allows Chinese nationals to spy on US military installations in Guam.

In 2019, the Biden administration adopted a policy to allow Chinese nationals to visit the Northern Mariana Islands for fourteen days without a visa. From there, many would charter boats to Guam to obtain information on sensitive U.S. military sites.

Speaking exclusively to DailyMail.com at the annual Reagan National Defense Forum in Simi Valley, California, Ernst said the visa loophole allows spies to “look hard” at what the US is doing militarily in Guam and then ” to use against us'. .'

'We are trying to close those loopholes in the law. I just think it's really, really important that we do this,” said Ernst, a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee.

Ernst and Rep. Rep. Neal Dunn, R-Fla., wrote a letter to the Department of Homeland Security Sec. Alejandro Mayorkas this week criticized the policy, which the government believes will provide a significant economic boost for the small island.

Andersen Air Force Base in Guam

The senator from Iowa referred to the The annual Reagan National Defense survey released Thursday found that 51 percent of Americans think China is the 'greatest threat to the U.S.'

“There is no direct kinetic action with China militarily at this point,” she said, but the poll said “China's global spread — whether military or economic — does concern Americans.”

As the U.S. figures out the best way to counter the growing threat from China, the senator also said she believes American “heroes” are hurting as a result of a block on promotions and nominations imposed by one of her colleagues issued.

Sen. Tommy Tuberville, R-Ala., has held up more than 400 military promotions in the past 10 months to protest the Pentagon's policy of providing compensation to troops seeking abortions.

But Ernst, the first female combat veteran to serve in the Senate, disagrees with her fellow Republican's approach.

And she has yet to hear a “clear strategy” from Tuberville regarding his ongoing military blockade.

“The bottom line is that we have generals and admirals who are being retained because of their promotions, because of their appointments, because of policies that they have absolutely no control over,” Ernst said.

“So again, I don't agree with it,” she told DailyMail.com of the Tuberville blockade.

“I'm very pro-life, I am, I don't make a big deal about it, but detaining innocent men, women and their families is not the solution, so we can find another solution to address this policy. But it should not be at the expense of the heroes who serve in uniform.”

Tuberville suggested this week that he would pull back on most of his military hold and focus instead on preventing “woke” officials from being confirmed.

His office told DailyMail.com that they would in due course release the list of specific service members who would be held up.

'Obviously this started with exaggerating abortion and the like. Since we've had all this time, we've had several groups in Washington, D.C. and across the country evaluating all these military appointees,” he told congressional reporters earlier this week.

“I think we have to make sure that people who are our generals and admirals are vetted to some extent, but we also have to understand that we have to promote these people, and for some of them it's been a long time coming.”

Ernst also told DailyMail.com that an important distinction needs to be made between the “woke” Biden policies and the service members themselves.

Sailors prepare to enter a building for a close-quarters combat exercise at Naval Base Guam

Ernst told DailyMail.com that there is an important distinction between the 'woke' Biden policies and the service members themselves

She said: 'It's not the sergeant on the street who is awake, it's not the hardworking men and women wearing the uniform who are awake, it's the fact that we have policies that are being pushed by woke citizens who are monitoring and serving in capacity at the Ministry of Defense.'

Ernst also said she believes the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) will be passed before the end of the year.

But Congress is currently stuck in negotiations over scrapping the Biden Defense Department's “woke” policy.

Rep. Adam Smith, ranking member of the House Armed Services Committee, agreed with Ernst's assessment during a panel earlier in the day.

“I really want to thank Senator Joni Ernst for saying that the military is not awake,” he told DailyMail.com.

“People need to stop saying it undermines the credibility of our military and that it's just a lie. It is completely wrong to attack the military and undermine support for our troops and their families based on a partisan political agenda.”

“I think we're almost done,” Smith said of the NDAA

Smith, D-Wash., also blasted Tuberville, saying it “undermines” the military.

The Democrat also expressed optimism about final passage of the NDAA before Christmas. The bill has been passed for 62 years in a row.

“I think we're almost done,” Smith said.

“I think we've resolved those differences in a bipartisan, bicameral way, with input from the White House as well. “I think we'll get a good bill and we'll be ready to go next week,” he continued.

The text of the NDAA bill is expected to be released Monday.