Don Nickles: “I commend the Senators from Arizona and Virginia for their leadership on this important issue. When the Air Force's…”

“I commend the Senators from Arizona and Virginia for their leadership on this important issue. When the Air Force's original proposal to lease 100 tankers looked like a done deal a couple of months ago, both of these Senators stood up and made us consider the proposal in ways that we likely would not have, but for their commitment for the interests of both the warfighter and the taxpayer. In so doing, we now have before us, among other things, Section 135 of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2004. As I understand this provision, the Air Force will be authorized to use the special non-confirming lease methodology to lease no more than 20 tankers, and buy the balance, not to exceed 80, under a multiyear procurement/incremental funding methodology.”