DENVER — It’s a safe bet to say that everyone in the Colorado Legislature agrees that veterans’ programs throughout the state are grossly underfunded. But a bipartisan attempt to help alleviate the problem is meeting bipartisan resistance at the state Capitol.

Soon to be introduced is a resolution that would ask voters to expand the state lottery to deliver more funding to veterans’ programs. But both parties — including the El Paso delegation — are split on whether or not to support it.

If the resolution is approved by two-thirds of both the House and Senate, a measure will be put on the November ballot to create a new state lottery scratch ticket. Net proceeds from its sale would go to the state Board of Veterans Affairs, which distributes grant money to various veterans’ organizations, such as the Veterans of Foreign Wars.

Supporters say it could deliver up to $2 million annually to veterans. Opponents say the state shouldn’t support gambling, and that the Legislature should focus on other financial issues.

“There are waiting lines of weeks and months for federal services. It shouldn’t have to be that way,” said Sen. Suzanne Williams, D-Aurora, who has taken the lead on the resolution. “This could go a long way to shortening those lines.”

Williams said new money could help fund mental health services, suicide prevention, job assistance, family counseling and more. Williams said 18 veterans a day commit suicide nationwide, and though there are 425,000 veterans in Colorado, the state is 47th in the nation in funding veterans’ services.

But getting the required votes isn’t a cakewalk. Williams hasn’t introduced the resolution because she’s negotiating with stakeholders. And though there are many supporters in both caucuses, there are also plenty of detractors.

In Colorado Springs, for example, Sen. Kent Lambert and Rep. Mark Barker, both Republicans, support the resolution. Barker said he may even become a co-sponsor.

But Republican Senate Minority Leader Bill Cadman, Sen. Keith King and Rep. Bob Gardner, along with Senate Majority Leader John Morse, a Democrat, are against it.

And House Majority Leader Amy Stephens, R-Monument, and Rep. Mark Waller, R-Colorado Springs, say they haven’t made up their minds.

“I’m really struggling with this,” said Waller, a former Air Force officer. “It wouldn’t necessarily create more lottery dollars, just more ways to spread them around.”

Cadman, an Army veteran, said that though veterans are being short-changed by the federal government, the lottery isn’t the way to solve the problem.

“It would be very tough to support more state-sponsored gambling,” he said, but added that the appropriate place for the question to be decided would be at the ballot box.Barker countered that he doesn’t support gambling either.

“But I’d buy one of those, if I knew it was going straight to veterans,” he said.

Ralph Bozella, president of the United Veterans Committee, said creating a new lottery game is the only way to help veterans with many serious issues. He said the federal Department of Veterans Affairs just isn’t getting the job done, and the state needs to step up.

“People that don’t want this to pass, do you have a better idea to bring in money to support veterans? Because there isn’t one,” he said. “Nobody will vote for a new tax to help veterans.”

Bozella is a past chairman of the state Board of Veterans Affairs. He said in the 2011-2012 fiscal year, the board got $1.7 million in grant applicants from organizations such as the VFW, but had only $800,000 to distribute. So any increase in state funding, he said, could go a long way toward helping in other areas, such as treatment for PTSD victims.

The federal VA gave $1.8 billion to Colorado in 2010, but the federal government’s yearly donations go mostly to pensions, disability treatments and insurance, Bozella said, and don’t cover the numerous other issues veterans face.

Sen. King said his problem isn’t just that the ticket would expand gambling, but that he’s suspicious of any financial measure that doesn’t specify precisely where its income would go.

The draft of the resolution creates a new state fund for veterans, and dictates that the scratch tickets state that the proceeds will go to veterans, but it doesn’t earmark income for particular uses. It says the income will be used for a “broad range of needs.”

“While I’m in favor of the outcome, I don’t like the process,” King said.