Rep. Brad Ashford fights proposed funding shift from Omaha VA to overbudget Denver project

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http://www.livewellnebraska.com/consumer/rep-brad-ashford-fights-proposed-funding-shift-from-omaha-va/article_c0ed46b9-dfb3-559a-be74-4b2d9c57c474.html

Posted: Tuesday, June 9, 2015 1:00 am
By Joseph Morton / World-Herald Bureau

WASHINGTON — Money set aside for the design of a new Omaha VA hospital could instead go toward a long-troubled hospital construction project in suburban Denver under a proposal floated by the Obama administration.

The idea met with a quick rejection from Rep. Brad Ashford, D-Neb.

“That’s an absolute nonstarter,” Ashford said Monday. “That would be a 180-degree change, and it just absolutely is not going to happen.”

The VA proposal, which also would affect dozens of other projects across the country, is sure to meet similar objections from many lawmakers. But it highlights just how deep a money pit the Denver project has become and the serious budget problems it poses for the Veterans Affairs Department.

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THE WORLD-HERALD
Omaha's VA Medical Center in June 2012.