If it's Thursday, they long to be close to you.

Ballooning fears over China as lawmakers hold hearings and receive classified briefings

amid new details about the size and scope of China's aerial surveillance program.

Plus, Turkey's president is calling it the disaster of the century

as the death toll from Monday's earthquake tops 20,000,

leaving millions more in need of humanitarian aid,

and time is running out for rescuers.

And promises, promises President Biden and the Republican Party's top presidential contenders

are all in floor today as the White House clashes with the GOP on entitlements and spending.

Welcome to Meet the Press now. I'm Chuck Todd reporting from Washington, where U.S. officials have spent much of the day trying to tamp down growing concerns from lawmakers amid new revelations about China's massive balloon surveillance operation. And that's the news here. This is a operation, and it's much bigger than I think a lot of people thought.

It has been a day of hearings, briefings, and questions.

There's some new intelligence, even some unanimous condemnation.

According to a senior State Department official, photos taken during a high-altitude flyby

show the Chinese spy balloon that was shot down over the weekend was equipped

with multiple antennas capable of conducting what is called signals intelligence operations.

And that means it was capable of eavesdropping on things like phone communication.

So this is almost their version of the NSA.

In two Senate hearings today with top Pentagon and State Department officials,

lawmakers from both sides of the aisle voiced their alarm and concern. Democratic Senator John

Tester at Montana, the state that the balloon was first spotted in, pressed officials today,

and whether or not the government knows for sure what intelligence China was trying to collect,

and he did not seem pleased at all with

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