Rep. Coffman: VA Cannot Use Healthcare Dollars on Colo. Hospital

A decision by the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) to cover the cost of construction overruns with money Congress intended to reform the agency and to provide direct patient care was lambasted as selfish and irresponsible by a House committee chairman, The Hill reported.

The VA is set to spend $1.73 billion to construct a 184-bed hospital in Aurora, Colorado, that was originally budgeted for $328 million.

To cover $830 million in cost overruns, the VA wants to tap into some of the $5 billion Congress appropriated to make the VA more efficient and to enable patients to get speedier private medical care rather than having to wait incessantly for appointments at beleaguered VA facilities, The Denver Post reported.

"The VA hospital in Aurora must be built, but the cost overruns need to be paid for without compromising the reforms recently passed by Congress to improve the VA's ability to care for our nation’s veterans," Rep. Mike Coffman, R-Colo., chairman of the House Veterans Affairs Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations, said in a statement late Monday.

"Despite scandal after scandal involving VA bureaucrats, they are unwilling to sacrifice a single dime of their bonus money to pay for their mistakes," he said.

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