Lee Terry: “I want to thank Mr. Coffman for bringing this bill. I think it is extremely important, and it directly affects the Omaha…”

“I want to thank Mr. Coffman for bringing this bill. I think it is extremely important, and it directly affects the Omaha VA in-patient facility, as well as veterans all around the Midwest area. The cost overruns of the Denver, or the Aurora hospital, as well as Orlando and others, have been noted in the GAO report showing that these hospitals on average are 35 months delayed and somewhere between 300 and $400 million over budget. It shows a serious inability of the VA's construction and management subagency to manage and run these projects. I am pleased that this legislation would require the VA to employ at least one special project manager from the Corps of Engineers. It has been noted by every speaker here today that the Corps of Engineers has a specialty, a somewhat amazing ability to get projects done on time and on budget, so having their level of expertise injected into this, even if it is just an advisory or a consulting role, I think is an important first step. I would prefer that we just turned it all over, the VA hospital construction, to something like the Corps of Engineers, but this is a legitimate good first step in this process. Now, our Omaha facility remains number 23.…”