We’ve been studying and worrying a lot lately about the White House’s 3.7 trillion dollar budget, and what it means for our country. But in the midst of all this talk about spending, taxes, and debt for our children, we haven’t considered the ramifications of a recent recommendation that could cripple our nation’s defense.

I’m talking about the White House Budget Office’s recommendation to the Department of Defense to postpone the Air Force’s refueling tanker because of cost. The Department of Defense says the decision isn’t final, but I want to make it clear this option shouldn’t even be considered. It is a dangerous decision.

As Kansans well understand, this is the plane our airmen and women use to refuel almost every other aircraft in our services. Without it, our troops can’t deploy overseas. Today, the military is flying missions in planes that were first delivered in the 1950s – tankers that were built before Budget Director Peter Orszag was even born! We would never, not one of us, ask our families to fly in a civilian aircraft that old. In fact, the average age of a commercial airliner is just over 11 years old.

As your Senator, I have had the opportunity to fly in many tankers and to watch the operations in the air. While it is a great aircraft that has withstood 50 years of service in many difficult missions including in Iraq and Afghanistan, the men and women at Boeing who built this plane have designed a new tanker that can do an even better job and can operate more efficiently for our troops. That’s why Congressman Todd Tiahrt and I personally invited Budget Director Orszag to come to Wichita -- in a tanker -- with us. We’d like him to see what it’s like for our Air Force to use these older Eisenhower-era planes in our most vital missions of the 21^st Century.

We want him to talk to the airmen and women at McConnell Air Force Base about their needs for a new tanker- and maybe even walk across the street to see the vast difference in the new tankers Boeing is making for our allies- not us -our allies who are purchasing the updated models for their country’s defense. We want him to understand as we do, and as our troops do, why the new tanker is so important.

Now, I’ll be the first to say there have been many problems with the tanker bid process. This last go around, I fought tooth and nail with my fellow Kansans Todd Tiahrt and Sam Brownback to make sure our Air Force didn’t buy the wrong plane. We did this because they desperately need the best tanker possible. If the Administration pushes this off even further, and our airmen and women have to fly 75 year old tankers, we are putting our Air Force and our national defense in jeopardy.

Getting a new one is still the Air Force’s number one priority. The Administration should reverse this recommendation and fund the tanker.