(Radio Iowa) – Iowa Senator Joni Ernst says the Senate Armed Services Committee has advanced a bill that would provide the money for a new runway in Sioux City for the 185th Air National Guard Refueling Wing. “What I have done is put into the National Defense Authorization Act the funding for the runway in its entirety, so that is in the form of an authorization,” Ernst says. ”

And my provision also requires that the Department of Defense brief congress on how they plan to preserve the 185th.” Earlier this year, the Iowa National Guard’s adjutant general said the project’s total cost would be 95 million dollars. While the National Defense Authorization Act does list spending priorities like this one, the money also has to be included in a separate appropriations bill that’s still being developed.

An Airman of the 185th Air Refueling Wing refastens a cover after checking the oil of a KC-135 Stratotanker during a training event at the 185th Air Refueling Wing in Sioux City, Iowa, March 1, 2025. (U.S. Air National Guard photo by Staff Sgt. Tylon Chapman)

“I’m going to just keep pushing until we get this activity done,” Ernst said. “…The bottom line is we’ve got this provision, it provides the authority for the runway to be funded completely and this is for those great men and women of the 185th and for the community.”

In 2003, the Air Force switched to having refueling tanker planes rather than F-16 fighter jets based at Sioux City’s airport. The F-A-A has determined the runway has about two more years of unrestricted use in its current condition and after that it will be too dangerous for the massive aircraft and crews to use it.