Note: We can’t afford to build 27 facilities all in one building program. It’s something we could do over 12 years or so. I’m just trying to keep the program manageable and minimize fraud and waste.

I’m aware of what delaying some of the facilities will mean for some veterans, but I’m also aware of the likelihood of substandard facilities built under lack of proper oversight and placed under administrators more interested in firing off glowing reports about the gleaming new hospital than solving problems its builders left behind, and I know the problems that can cause for our veterans and for even longer.

I’m not some Grover Norquist here saying “no growth of government!”. What I’m saying is “Let’s do this right”, and the bill in question was in my mind too much, too soon for a department which still has severe internal problems.