Press Releases

Chairman Miller released the following statement today regarding the new $1.73 billion estimated cost for the replacement Denver VA Hospital.

“The replacement Denver VA Medical Center is the biggest construction failure in VA history, and it just keeps getting worse. Since the project’s inception, the cost of the hospital has ballooned from $328 million to $1.73 billion. Yet as the project spiraled out of control, VA ignored congressional pleas to get things back on track at almost every turn. Because of a near complete and total lack of focus on the project at the highest levels of VA and the department’s disregard for Congressional oversight, the future of the Denver replacement hospital is unclear. One thing is certain: Congress will not authorize another dime until VA gets its construction affairs in order. First, the department must come to Congress with a list of options for finishing the project in a way that doesn’t interrupt current services to local veterans. These could include fully completing construction or decreasing the scope of the project or selling it, while utilizing existing VA facilities, community services or other options to deliver veterans’ medical care. Next, VA must generate a deficit-neutral plan to pay for these options. The department owns this mess, and it’s not fair to force taxpayers to bail out the bungling bureaucrats who created it. Finally, VA must put forth a plan to solve its construction challenges once and for all and hold those responsible for the failures in Denver accountable. The only acceptable form of accountability is purging those responsible for the problems in Denver from the VA payroll. Moving them to other positions within VA, as the department often tries to do, will only create more headaches for taxpayers. If VA fails to meet these requirements, authorizing any more money for the project could only be described as blatant waste. Right now it’s incumbent upon Congress, taxpayers and Colorado veterans to keep the pressure on VA to take this project seriously – something the department has failed to do from the beginning.” – Rep. Jeff Miller, Chairman, House Committee on Veterans’ Affairs