DENVER — Sen. Michael Bennet is asking the Veterans Affairs Department to quickly produce a plan for funding and finishing the Denver VA hospital, which is $1 billion over budget and months behind schedule.
The Colorado Democrat said Friday the VA must provide details about how it plans to spend the additional $830 million needed to finish the hospital in suburban Aurora.
The hospital is now expected to cost $1.73 billion and won’t open before 2017. As recently as last year, VA officials said it would cost $630 million and be completed in 2015.
The VA says it’s investigating what went wrong. The department says its top construction executive retired last week, one day after investigators interviewed him under oath.
The hospital will replace a crowded, aging facility in Denver.
