After two delays on the House floor, lawmakers finally agreed 91-1 on Thursday to fund construction on the new veterans home in Lisbon, sending it immediately to the governor's desk for approval.

House lawmakers were expected to vote on the bill last week to fund the new $31.6 million veterans home, but instead delayed their decision amid protests from Republican members critical of the building's increased cost.

Lawmakers were facing the possibility of losing $14.6 million in federal money for the building if the bill did not pass with two-thirds of the House supporting it by this weekend.

"We are between a deadline imposed before us and this bill," said Rep. Rick Berg, R-Fargo. "I plan to vote green on this, but it's not without a protest."

The veterans home originally carried a $21.1 million price tag when it was approved in 2007, but increased in cost by $11 million last year when the Veterans Administration in Washington implemented a new design standard for new veterans homes.

The state will fund $14.4 million of the building and the federal government will send $14.6 million with another $2.5 million coming from veterans home resident fees.

Rep. Gary Kreidt, R-New Salem, said the new home will increase its capacity to 150 beds and will include private rooms and bathrooms for 142 of them.

"When we push that green button today, let's not just think green, let's also think red, white and blue for our veterans of North Dakota," Kreidt said.

Rep. George Keiser, R-Bismarck, was the lone nay vote. He said he voted in opposition to the bill because he thinks the state should not have a centralized veterans home.

"We need to allow veterans to be placed in the nursing home facilities that exist around our state," Keiser said.

(Reach reporter Brian Duggan at 223-8482 or brian.duggan@bismarcktribune.com.)