HELENA — A $1.3 trillion spending bill moving through Congress contains long-sought-after funding to build a veterans’ nursing home in Butte.
Veterans groups have been seeking money for more than a decade to build a veterans home to serve southwestern Montana, in addition to existing homes in Columbia Falls and Glendive.
Montana lawmakers previously secured the state’s 35 percent share of the funding and a 10-acre site was donated in an agreement that was to expire later this year.
The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs Veterans Administration had not come up with its 65 percent share of the money because the project was 56th on its priority list.
U.S. Sen. Jon Tester’s office said Thursday the $685 million earmarked in the bill for construction projects is enough to cover projects on the priority list through the Butte home.