VA hospital $1 billion over budget gets another $100 million

A building project of the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) is already $1 billion over budget — but it's about to get another $100 million in tax dollars to keep it going.

The VA hospital in question, the Denver Replacement Medical Center, has been labeled the "biggest construction failure" in the agency's history with a current price tag of $1.73 billion (and rapidly counting). The original cost estimate was less than $400 million.

Also catastrophically mismanaged is the hospital's construction timeline: The hospital was supposed to be completed more than a year ago, but now, it is not expected to be completed in 2015. The $100 million bailout will fund only three extra weeks of work.

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This debacle is the latest in a long line of scandals surrounding the VA for the past several years. The department has been caught providing slow and inadequate service to veterans, using faulty medical equipment, engaging in corrupt and irresponsible activities with minimal consequences, and fudging the numbers on veteran suicides.