Comment on VA must find millions to finish troubled Denver hospital

VA must find millions to finish troubled Denver hospital

DENVER (AP) — Construction crews are returning to work at the veterans hospital outside Denver after a last-minute deal with congressional leaders avoided a shutdown of the half-finished project. Congress and the Veterans Affairs Department still must find up to $830 million to finish the vastly over-budget hospital without taking services away from veterans elsewhere and possibly scale back the project. At least two internal VA investigations are underway, and the department says all the key executives on the project have been replaced — some were demoted or transferred, and another retired a day after investigators interviewed him under oath. The VA wanted to finish the project with money siphoned from a $5 billion fund Congress set up to resolve an embarrassing national scandal — long wait times for veterans to get health care. Lawmakers balked, saying the VA needed to come up with a different funding plan that didn't deny services to other veterans or raise the federal deficit. Congress also wants the VA to make major internal changes to avoid a repeat — perhaps turning over responsibility for major construction projects to the Army Corps of Engineers.

 

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