VA Hospital predates Nelson (D-Ne) vote

[Omaha Steve]

http://www.omaha.com/article/20100319/NEWS01/100319512#hospital-predates-nelson-vote

Published Friday March 19, 2010

The Veterans Administration's top facilities manager told a U.S. Senate committee last August that a new $500 million-plus VA hospital for Omaha had a good chance of being funded.

Donald Orndoff, director of the office of construction and facilities management for the VA in Washington, indicated that a recently completed review by an independent consultant had given the agency a much greater understanding of the depth of issues with the 60-year-old facility.

"The Secretary is very supportive of moving forward with this project,'' Orndoff told the U.S. Senate's Committee on Veterans Affairs during a field hearing in Omaha on Aug. 20.

Orndoff's testimony directly contradicts a report in Friday's Washington Times that VA officials had told the Senate during that month that they were recommending a renovation of the existing Omaha hospital, not a much more costly new one.

The Times article says the new VA hospital was a "budget plum'' to U.S. Sen. Ben Nelson as the White House was wooing the Democrat to vote for the health care overhaul.

Orndoff's testimony does not prove or disprove that any politics was involved in the decision to include planning funds for the $560 million hospital in the Obama administration's 2011 budget.

FULL story at link.