Pursuant to clause 2(e)(4) of Rule XI of the Rules of the House, public hearing records of the Committee on Veterans' Affairs are also published in electronic form.

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Congressman Coffman's proposal to remove the oversight of construction from where it sits today and move it into the Army Corps of Engineers.

I would also like to welcome House Veterans' Affairs Committee Chairman Jeff Miller from the State of Florida.

Is that simply incompetence from a bureaucratic standpoint? Or is that calculated to mask the true cost of this hospital?

This hearing will address continued problems occurring in the construction of the Replacement Aurora, Colorado, VA Medical Center.

I, along with Ranking Member Kirkpatrick, introduced legislation that would require VA to engage the Army Corps of Engineers.

The hardships that veterans in Colorado have incurred due to the lack of an adequate VA Medical Center is wrong.

In balance and fairness, Congressman Coffman, our first request of this committee is to take the views of performing subcontractors in proper balance with the views of nonperforming prime contractors that may be offered.

I just think that the mission of the VA is really to provide health care benefits to those who have served this country.

Now we ask the Congress to do their job and get this job done.

That is why the VFW supports Chairman Coffman's bill, HR. 3593, the 'VA Construction Assistance Act of 2013.'

You have to put every option to fix all of these problems on the table.

I hope we will not linger on past actions or place blame, but instead get all hands on deck to complete this facility.

It is our obligation as a grateful Nation to do what needs to be done so that veterans' sacrifice and service will never be forgotten.

The systematic issues that arise in VA major construction lead me to believe that VA is ill-equipped to handle them without outside guidance.

Our veterans deserve it.

Clearly, the VA is not a construction entity. It is not your core competency.

What is concerning to me is the extraordinary length of time that it is taking to do these change orders.

The perception of total lack of accountability and leadership within the construction division of the Department of Veterans Affairs in dealing with the new Denver VA hospital is completely out of control.

It is our sincere request that we can count on this committee's continued leadership, and the subcontracting committee in the House Small Business Committee, to correct a longstanding and harmful bias we believe stems from greater…

I remain unconvinced that VA can fix these problems without outside intervention, so I encourage my colleagues to support our bipartisan bill, H.R. 3593, the VA Construction Assistance Act.

Do you think in any way that the slowness of the change order process is calculated to mask the true cost of the project?

The budgetary overruns, the equally questionable production delays occurring in Aurora are representative of the lack of transparency and accountability that currently plague the Department of Veterans Affairs.

Behind schedule means that the veterans of Colorado and the veterans of America are not getting the health care that they need.