by Virginia Kruta, The Daily Caller:

Indiana Republican Rep. Jim Banks said Monday that China could repay the United States for the spread of coronavirus by forgiving a sizable chunk of the national debt.

Banks made the comments during a segment of “Tucker Carlson Tonight,” saying that forgiving some of the U.S. debt held by the Chinese would be a big step in repaying Americans for the havoc created by the continuing spread of the virus.

As I told @TuckerCarlson tonight on his show, @realDonaldTrump should force China to pay USA back for the havoc created by Coronavirus and a good place to start is significant debt forgiveness to pay down our national debt. #makechinapay

— Jim Banks (@RepJimBanks) March 17, 2020

WATCH:

Host Tucker Carlson began the segment by explaining just what China had done to allow the virus to spread unchecked.

“The Coronavirus is a Chinese virus no matter what they are telling you, it originated in China and was able to spread to the rest of the world because the Chinese government hid the truth of what was happening early in the outbreak from the rest of the world,” Carlson said. They lied about it and that caused the terrible consequences we are watching now. You can blame China for that.”

Carlson then brought Banks in to discuss how Congress and President Donald Trump might be able to hold the Chinese government accountable for its failure to address and contain the threat.

“We need to start by forcing China to pay the burden and the cost incurred on the United States of America due to the Coronavirus. I think there are many ways we can do that,” Banks explained. “The president could force China to relieve a great amount of American debt. He could institute tariffs on China and designate the funds from that into a coronavirus victim relief fund to pay the cost incurred on Americans and American taxpayers due to the negligence on China’s behalf that has led to the crisis in America today.”

Banks went on to say that he believed the Trump administration just might be willing to push for this, adding, “I have no doubt that President Trump will do everything he can to hold China accountable for what they have caused on Americans today.”

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