Statement of Administration Policy: S. 9 - Service-Disabled Veterans' Benefits Improvement Act

FINAL
(Senate)
(Cranston (D) California)

The administration supports the cost-of-living adjustment (COLA), effective December 1, 1987, for veterans receiving disability compensation payments equal to the COLA given social security and veterans pension beneficiaries, as provided in S. 9. The administration had proposed that compensation COLAs be granted automatically each year on the same basis as those other two programs, and still believes that approach is preferable. Despite its support for the compensation COLA, the administration opposes enactment of S. 9 unless it is amended to delete:

— Section 333, which would virtually prohibit the Veterans Administration (VA) from conducting any program to test its employees for the illegal use of drugs, as required by Executve Order 12564. This section violates both the letter and the spirit of the compromise agreement between the Congress and the administration embodied in P.L. 100-71.

— Title II, which establishes presumptions of service connection for disability compensation purposes for several types of radiation-induced diseases without scientific or medical evidence.

— Any provision prohibiting the VA from implementing a widespread program of testing patients for the presence of the AIDS virus that would be contrary to sound medical practice.

Failure to delete the above provisions will result in a veto recommendation by the President's senior advisors.