The United States, which is so generous with its foreign aid and which seems to have plenty of money to pursue its Iraq and Afghanistan objectives, is claiming that it doesn't have the money to quickly replace an aging weather satellite crucial to accurate predictions on the intensity and path of hurricanes.

According to a letter obtained by the Associated Press, plans to launch a replacement for the QuikScat satellite have been pushed back to 2016 — seven years later than had been planned.

That timetable should be adjusted to align more closely to the originally planned 2009 launch date. If QuikScat were to fail completely, scientists and weather forecasters would be forced to rely on less-accurate satellites.

The Bush administration and Congress should heed the concerns of emergency officials in coastal areas that bear the brunt of hurricanes when they make landfall.

Many Butler County residents who vacation in those coastal regions understand the concerns those emergency officials express.

It became clear last year that QuikScat's days were seriously numbered; a transmitter used to relay data to Earth about every 90 minutes failed. While its backup transmitter could last years, there are no guarantees about that. There suddenly could be a major void in terms of the data QuikScat has been providing since its launch in 1999 — key data about wind speed and direction over the ocean.

It has been estimated that the accuracy of two-day forecasts could suffer by 10 percent, and three-day forecasts, by 16 percent. Officials say that could translate into miles of coastline and the difference between a city being evacuated or not. It would widen the areas that are placed under hurricane watches and warnings, presumably putting millions more people under unnecessary alerts and preparations.

Conrad Lautenbacher, administrator of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, placed some of the blame for the delayed QuikScat replacement on technical problems as well as money.

This country has the scientific expertise to overcome the technical issues, and it has the capability of finding the financial resources to move the project forward.

The matter boils down to a commitment by national leaders not to allow such a setback to occur.

It's time to make that commitment now, not later.