US House moving toward deal to finish Denver VA hospital

Rep. Mike Coffman, R-Aurora, said the House could vote Wednesday to increase a spending cap on the project.

The deal emerging would allow the Veterans Affairs Department to transfer $625 million to complete the hospital from other accounts within its budget.

The half-completed hospital within the Denver suburb of Aurora is predicted to value nearly $ 1.7 billion, virtually triple final yr’s estimate. Coffman said that bill is still up for consideration.

But that didn’t mean he went quietly.

Miller was additionally sad the VA’s plan does not promise that staff liable for the issues can be held accountable.

The VA would also be required to get permission from the House and Senate veterans committees on specifics of the transfers.

“These projects include an art installation on the side of a parking garage that displays quotes by Abraham Lincoln and Eleanor Roosevelt in – wait for it – in Morse code that cost $285,000”.

“All options remain on the table”, Miller said.

“There is no doubt the VA mismanaged this project from the start”.

“Under the leadership of (VA) Secretary (Robert) McDonald and Deputy Secretary (Sloan) Gibson, the VA has admitted their mistakes on this project and they are both personally involved in completion of this facility”.

FILE – In this April 18, 2015, file photo, a construction crew…

The House must also vote to raise the spending cap on the project before the deal is final.

The uncertainty has caused no end of frustration for a few Colorado lawmakers.

In the last few days, it appeared as if the Senate bill and Miller’s proposal were on a collision course with little time to solve the impasse.

One potential solution that emerged Tuesday is that Congress could approve only part of the funding needed to complete the hospital – to the tune of $425 million. “The VA’s mismanagement of this project from the outset was horrendous and unacceptable”, Bennet said in a statement.

The VA faces further scrutiny from Congress on how it shuffles its budget to pay for the hospital.

DENVER |After years of burgeoning cost estimates and a handful of showdowns over providing funding, Congress signed off on a measure Wednesday to fully fund the remainder of the Aurora VA hospital. But the deal strips the division of the authority to handle huge development tasks sooner or later and provides it to the Army Corps of Engineers – a change that indignant lawmakers demanded to keep away from a repeat.