From: Travis From: Congressman Todd Tiahrt <[email protected]> Subject: TANKER NEWS: No Delay- AF Needs Tankers Now Date: Friday, March 13, 2009, 6:53 PM
If you are having trouble viewing this message, please click here<http://tiahrt.houseenews.net/mail/util.cfm?gpiv=2100035580.120893.143&gen=1> . *March 13, 2009* [image: Representative Todd Tiahrt, Fourth Congressional District of Kansas]<http://tiahrt.houseenews.net/mail/util.cfm?mailaction=clickthru&gpiv=2100035580.120893.143&gen=1&mailing_linkid=14434> *Website*<http://tiahrt.houseenews.net/mail/util.cfm?mailaction=clickthru&gpiv=2100035580.120893.143&gen=1&mailing_linkid=14436> * - Contact Me<http://tiahrt.houseenews.net/mail/util.cfm?mailaction=clickthru&gpiv=2100035580.120893.143&gen=1&mailing_linkid=14437>- About Todd<http://tiahrt.houseenews.net/mail/util.cfm?mailaction=clickthru&gpiv=2100035580.120893.143&gen=1&mailing_linkid=14438>- Services<http://tiahrt.houseenews.net/mail/util.cfm?mailaction=clickthru&gpiv=2100035580.120893.143&gen=1&mailing_linkid=14439>- Newsroom<http://tiahrt.houseenews.net/mail/util.cfm?mailaction=clickthru&gpiv=2100035580.120893.143&gen=1&mailing_linkid=14440>- Legislative Resources<http://tiahrt.houseenews.net/mail/util.cfm?mailaction=clickthru&gpiv=2100035580.120893.143&gen=1&mailing_linkid=14441>- 4th District<http://tiahrt.houseenews.net/mail/util.cfm?mailaction=clickthru&gpiv=2100035580.120893.143&gen=1&mailing_linkid=14435> * ***Click here<http://tiahrt.houseenews.net/mail/util.cfm?mailaction=clickthru&gpiv=2100035580.120893.143&gen=1&mailing_linkid=14442>to watch Congressman Tiahrt speak out against the Administration’s suggestion to delay the tanker program by five years. <http://tiahrt.houseenews.net/mail/util.cfm?mailaction=clickthru&gpiv=2100035580.120893.143&gen=1&mailing_linkid=14442> * Dear American Tanker Supporter: I want to provide you with an update on what has been happening with our efforts to ensure the United States Air Force is equipped with an American tanker built by American workers. I appreciate the role you have played in being a part of the public effort to help ensure this happens. Thanks to persistent leaders like Senator Pat Roberts and Senator Sam Brownback, we have been able to put the breaks on a French tanker twice already. This week you may have heard that President Obama’s Administration suggested delaying the tanker procurement program by five years as an option to save money. This proposal by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) is simply unacceptable. Any attempt by the White House to delay the Air Force’s top procurement priority by five years will be met by fierce opposition.[image: Boeing KC-767] This week Senator Roberts and I sent a letter to OMB Director Peter Orszag inviting him to fly with us in a tanker to Wichita to illustrate the urgent need to replace the Air Force’s aging tanker fleet. In our letter, Senator Roberts and I said the Air Force’s refueling tanker is vital to our ability to project power across the globe. Without it, we simply cannot deploy troops and assets where they are needed in a timely fashion. In this world of ever increasing risk, access denial is a very real, very threatening prospect that we should do everything in our power to avoid. Click here to read the letter to OMB Director Orszag.<http://tiahrt.houseenews.net/mail/util.cfm?mailaction=clickthru&gpiv=2100035580.120893.143&gen=1&mailing_linkid=14443> Congressman Norm Dicks from Washington State and I then sent a letter to Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates asking that he pay special attention to several areas where the Air Force made mistakes in its procurement process last year. Our points include conducting the next tanker competition on a level playing field, accounting for full and accurate life-cycle costs, and carefully considering national security and industrial base impacts. Click here to read the letter to Secretary Gates.<http://tiahrt.houseenews.net/mail/util.cfm?mailaction=clickthru&gpiv=2100035580.120893.143&gen=1&mailing_linkid=14444> A five-year delay would add enormous costs to the program and send the wrong message to our service members who would be flying and maintaining increasingly dangerous aircraft that are more than 50 years old. For the President to advocate a five-year tanker delay that will drive costs up for taxpayers by billions of dollars is fiscally irresponsible and will place our service members in a dangerous aircraft. President Obama and Washington leaders are willing to promote bailout after bailout; but when it comes to supporting a high-priority investment in our national defense that would create thousands of American jobs, their answer is a five-year delay. The Air Force’s aging fleet of tankers should have already been replaced by an American tanker using American workers. Instead of advocating to delay what the Air Force has determined is its number one procurement need, President Obama should be using his position to move the process forward in a timely manner. Rest assured that I will fight any attempt of a further delay and will continue working toward a bipartisan procurement solution with my House and Senate colleagues. Best regards, *****Click here*<http://tiahrt.houseenews.net/mail/util.cfm?mailaction=clickthru&gpiv=2100035580.120893.143&gen=1&mailing_linkid=14445> * to watch a video about the letter sent by Senator Roberts and Congressman Tiahrt to OMB Director Peter Orszag inviting him to fly on a tanker to Wichita to illustrate the urgent need to replace the Air Force’s aging tanker fleet. * <http://tiahrt.houseenews.net/mail/util.cfm?mailaction=clickthru&gpiv=2100035580.120893.143&gen=1&mailing_linkid=14445> *Please note: *this email newsletter is coming from an unmonitored account. Please *do not reply* to this email address. To reply to our office, click here<http://tiahrt.houseenews.net/mail/util.cfm?mailaction=clickthru&gpiv=2100035580.120893.143&gen=1&mailing_linkid=14446> to use the contact form on our website. If you wish to change your email address or update your contact information, click here to update your profile<http://tiahrt.houseenews.net/mail/util.cfm?mailaction=clickthru&gpiv=2100035580.120893.143&gen=1&mailing_linkid=14447>. If you wish to unsubscribe, click here<http://tiahrt.houseenews.net/mail/util.cfm?mailaction=unsubscribe&gpiv=2100035580.120893.143&gen=1> . -- *~@):~{> --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ Thanks for being part of "PoliticalForum" at Google Groups. For options & help see http://groups.google.com/group/PoliticalForum * Visit our other community at http://www.PoliticalForum.com/ * It's active and moderated. Register and vote in our polls. * Read the latest breaking news, and more. -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
