VA executive to visit site of over-budget Denver hospital

Deputy VA Secretary Sloan Gibson is returning to Colorado to talk with members of Congress about the troubled veterans medical center under construction outside Denver.

Gibson will visit the work site in suburban Aurora on Wednesday.

The half-finished medical center is expected to cost up to $1.73 billion, nearly triple the estimate the Veterans Affairs Department gave last year.

The VA is asking Congress for $625 million more to complete a slightly scaled-back version. Lawmakers are demanding significant changes within the VA in exchange for more money.

Construction has continued under a series of short-term agreements while Congress and the VA try to work out a deal for enough money to finish.

The medical center would replace an old, crowded facility still in use in Denver.