The Denver Post
By Mark K. Matthews
POSTED: 05/22/2015
WASHINGTON — The VA hospital project in Aurora got a small reprieve Friday after the U.S. Senate passed a stopgap spending bill that keeps work going at the troubled site for about three weeks.
Its passage comes a day after the House agreed to a similar measure, which allows the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs and Kiewit-Turner, the project's prime contractor, to spend about $20 million more and avoid a shutdown next week at the site.
The measure now heads to President Barack Obama, who is expected to sign it.
Veterans Administration hospital in Aurora
An aerial view of the VA hospital construction site
April 24, 2015. (Joe Amon, The Denver Post)
The extra time — and money — are needed to give the VA and Congress extra breathing room to negotiate a long-term funding deal for the estimated $1.73 billion facility.
"Much hard work remains to be done to deliver the world-class medical facility that veterans deserve and were promised," U.S. Sen. Cory Gardner, a Colorado Republican, said in a statement.
The project has seen its price tag skyrocket since the hospital was first conceived, and the VA said recently it needs $830 million more to finish the facility.
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