By Jeff Mullin, Senior Writer

Oklahoma Sen. Jim Inhofe found himself in a rather uncomfortable position Monday.

His colleague, fellow Okla-homa Sen. Tom Coburn, has been vocal in his opposition to a bill providing funding for disabled veterans. To force the issue, Coburn offered an amendment that would have required making cuts in military construction projects — including a $10.7 million congressional add-on for a new control tower at Vance Air Force Base — in order to fund the veterans’ caregiver bill.

That caused Inhofe, who inserted the money for Vance in the Military Construction and Veterans Affairs Appropriations Act, to vote against his fellow Republican.

Coburn’s proposal was defeated 69-24, thus leaving the Vance funding in the military construction legislation.

“Once again the Senate chose to fund its own parochial projects instead of helping our nation and our veterans in need,” Coburn said in a statement posted on his official Web site. “If our veterans are willing to sacrifice for our nation, surely Congress should be willing to sacrifice for our veterans. Unfortunately, as this vote demonstrates, members of Congress are not willing to sacrifice their pet projects for any reason, including caring for disabled veterans.”

In drafting the amendment, Coburn proposed senators eliminate all military construction projects not requested by President Barack Obama’s administration.

“What does Obama know about the needs of the military? Nothing.” Inhofe said Tuesday. “There has never been a more anti-defense president. I much prefer to rely on my assessment of what the military needs.”

Inhofe said as the second-ranking Republican on the Senate Armed Services Com-mittee, he is making decisions not based on trying to boost the economy of Enid or any other military town in Oklahoma, but “to defend America.”

Inhofe said he didn’t want to be too critical of Coburn’s efforts to curb government spending, saying, “His intentions are good, but in this case Coburn was wrong and I was right, in my opinion.”

Vance’s tower, built in 1972, is only 63 feet tall, with a small working area (2,294 square feet) and out-of-date technology. The proposed new tower would have up-to-date technology, a larger cab and would stand 95 feet high.

“We probably have the worst tower in the AETC (Air Education and Training Command),” said Mike Cooper, military liaison for the city of Enid. “And, Vance is the second-busiest airport in the world.”

Cooper said the Vance tower budget insert would not have been included in the military construction legislation if it wasn’t part of the Air Force’s five-year plan.

“This was clearly vetted, is clearly a needed item,” he said.

Cooper said congressional inserts have long been vital to Vance.

“We haven’t had a regular program budget item in over 15 years,” he said. That means the more than $100 million spent on various projects in the past 15 years has come from congressional inserts, Cooper added.

“If we didn’t have this process where our senators and congressional delegation could add these projects, we wouldn’t get them,” Cooper said.

Cooper said he agrees with Coburn’s aim to cut needless government spending, but doesn’t think military construction funds should be targeted.

“They say you are for pork when it is your pork,” he said, “but this isn’t that type of deal because there is a process, there are rules in place to eliminate that. I don’t think that is one of the spending efforts you need to be looking to cut.”

The $134 billion Military Construction and Veterans Affairs Appropriation Act passed the Senate 100-0 Tuesday, including the Vance tower project.

“I am particularly re-lieved that $10.7 million will be going towards an air traffic control tower at Vance Air Force Base in Enid, Oklahoma, to replace the current tower that is nearly 40 years old and too undersized to accomplish air control and training requirements,” Inhofe said in a statement following Tues-day’s vote.

A call to Coburn’s Washington office seeking additional comment was not returned.