DENVER (AP) - The Veterans Affairs Department is expected to announce within weeks that a troubled Denver-area hospital under construction is finally complete after years of delays and severe cost overruns.
But the Denver Post reports that it will take months more to finish the Aurora project - and will likely be understaffed once it opens this summer.
The Post obtained a draft document for a U.S. House committee that says VA officials are "pessimistic" about filling all jobs at the $1.7 billion facility, which is more than $1 billion over budget.
The newspaper says that means the Veterans Administration plans to keep a hospital the Aurora facility was meant to replace open for at least three years.
The House Committee on Veterans Affairs plans a Wednesday hearing on the long-delayed project.