Tiahrt

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Rep. Todd Tiahrt, R-Goddard, has started a petition drive to protest the Air Force's decision to award an aerial refueling tanker contract to the team of Northrop Grumman/EADS.

The petition is available here. You also can sign it at Tiahrt's Wichita office, 155 N. Market, Suite 400.

Tiahrt said the petition will be given to President Bush, the Secretary of Defense and Congressional leaders.

Tiahrt and other members of Congress are upset that the $35 billion contract was not awarded to Boeing, which has made tankers for the Air Force for 50 years.

EADS is the parent company of Airbus, which is based in France. It said it will build an assembly plant in Alabama, but much of the plane -- and the jobs that go with it -- will be built overseas.

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I am outraged to the recent Air Force tanker contract decision.

I am outraged by the recent Air Force decision to award the KC-X Next Generation Air-fueling Tanker contract to a foreign competitor in the name of the Northrop Grumman/European Aeronautic Defence and Space Team.

An American tanker should be built by an American company with American workers. America must not outsource its national security. This decision shockingly creates French jobs in place of Kansas jobs. This is unacceptable.

I believe that the Tanker Competition was unfair and poorly evaluated, and if not overturned will negatively impact the United States for generations.

If allowed to stand, this contract award to a foreign company will:

1) Hurt American workers by the loss of U.S. jobs;
2) Outsource an essential military asset to Europe;
3) Force the United States to be dependent upon Europe for our national defense;
4) Result in an inferior tanker for the United States Air Force; and
5) Result in the US being more vulnerable at a time when we must be less vulnerable

I am urging the Air Force to reverse this dangerous decision to award the KC-X Tanker contract to the Northrop Grumman/European Aeronautic Defence and Space Team.

I invite you to take the following survey.

Todd Tiahrt
Member of Congress

How do you feel about the Tanker decision? Please write your opinion!