Veterans' and Survivors' Pension Improvement Act of 1978 Statement on Signing H.R. 10173 Into Law.

I am pleased to sign H.R. 10173, the Veterans' and Survivors' Pension Improvement Act of 1978. This bill creates a new pension program for needy disabled veterans and their survivors. It removes the most glaring inequities of the old program and directs pension payments to those veterans and their survivors most in need. It will assure higher income standards for the neediest eligible veterans and their survivors and indexes these income standards to changes in the cost of living, as is now done with social security benefits.

This bill substantially carries out the recommendations for reform of the pension program submitted by the Veterans Administration earlier this year. It should save the taxpayers money in the years ahead, because it redirects available resources to those veterans and survivors most in need.

I congratulate the Congress, particularly Chairmen Alan Cranston, Ray Roberts, Herman Talmadge, and Sonny Montgomery, in passing this measure which generally meets the administration's reform objectives and confines the cost to reasonable levels.