Veterans' Disability Compensation, Housing, and Memorial Benefits Amendments of 1981

(Senate agreed to House amendments with an amendment) Veterans' Disability Compensation, Housing, and Memorial Benefits Amendments of 1981 - Title I: Veterans' Disability Compensation Benefits - Increases effective October 1, 1981, the rates of veterans' compensation for: (1) wartime disability compensation; (2) additional compensation for dependents; (3) clothing allowances paid to certain disabled veterans; and (4) the anatomical loss or loss of use of both hands or both arms. Title II: Survivors' Dependency and Indemnity Compensation Benefits - Increases the rates of veterans' dependency and indemnity compensation for: (1) a surviving spouse; (2) surviving children; and (3) supplemental children's benefits. Title III: Automobile Assistance and Adaptive Equipment Amendments - Increases the amount of assistance for providing an automobile or other conveyance to eligible veterans. Directs the Administrator of Veterans' Affairs to provide automobile adaptive equipment for veterans entitled to compensation for ankylosis. Title IV: Life insurance Program Amendments - Increases the maximum amount of insurance coverage under the Servicemen's Group Life Insurance Program. Permits a member of the Retired Reserve of a uniformed service to obtain increased coverage as specified. Increases the maximum amount of insurance coverage under the Veterans' Group Life Insurance Program. Directs the Secretary of Defense to prescribe regulations for the administration of the Servicemen's Group Life Insurance Program by the Secretaries of the military departments. Permits the first beneficiary under a National Service Life Insurance policy to elect to receive payment in a lump-sum. Title V: Veterans' Administration Housing Benefits - Permits the Administrator to guarantee graduated-payment plan home loans. Increases the maximum amount of assistance for specially adapted housing for disabled veterans. Extends the maximum terms of Veterans' Administration guaranteed loans for mobile home purchases. Title VI: Miscellaneous Provisions - Requires the Administrator of Veterans' Affairs, before reorganizing or redistributing the functions of the bureaus, agencies, offices, or activities within the Veterans' Administration, to submit to Congress a detailed plan describing proposed changes. Requires the continued payment of a pension to a veteran undergoing a prescribed program of rehabilitation services while institutionalized. Directs the Administrator to furnish a memorial headstone or marker to commemorate any veteran whose remains are unavailable because of a donation to science, a burial at sea, or other causes. Directs the Administrator to set aside suitable areas in national cemeteries to honor such veterans. Sets forth the minimum active-duty service requirement to establish eligibility for veterans' benefits. Extends the delimiting period for educational benefits for surviving spouses of certain service-connected disabled veterans. Permits the Administrator, in the case of certain State and local government institutions of higher learning, to waive the requirement that an institution make pro rata refunds to students who drop a course before completion before the Administrator can approve nonaccredited courses for the purposes of veterans' educational benefits. Designates the Veterans' Administration Medical Center in Clarksburg, West Virginia, as the "Louis A. Johnson Veterans' Administration Medical Center." Designates the Veterans' Administration Medical Center in Reno, Nevada, as the "Ioannis A. Lougaris Veterans' Administration Medical Center." Title VII: Effective Dates - Sets forth the effective dates for the various provisions of this Act.

(Measure passed House, amended, in lieu of H.R. 3995) Veterans' Compensation Amendments of 1981 - Title I: Veterans' Disability Compensation Benefits - Increases the rates of veterans' compensation for: (1) wartime disability compensation; (2) additional compensation for dependents; and (3) clothing allowances paid to certain disabled veterans. Title II: Survivors; Dependency and Indemnity Compensation Benefits - Increases the rates of veterans' dependency and indemnity compensation for: (1) a surviving spouse; (2) surviving children; and (3) supplemental children's benefits. Provides for the adjustment of such benefits when the entitlement of a child is established retroactively or a child reaches age 18. Title III: Life Insurance Program Amendments - Increases the maximum amount of insurance coverage under the Servicemen's Group Life Insurance Program. Permits a member of the Retired Reserve of a uniformed service to obtain increased coverage as specified. Increases the maximum amount of insurance coverage under the Veterans' Group Life Insurance Program. Directs the Secretary of Defense to prescribe regulations for the administration of the Servicemen's Group Life Insurance Program by the Secretaries of the military departments. Permits the first beneficiary under a National Service Life Insurance policy to elect to receive payment in a lump-sum. Directs the Administrator of Veterans' Affairs to notify each individual insured under such policy or a United States Government Life Insurance policy of such changes and to provide forms for the election of a mode of payment. Title IV: Miscellaneous Provisions - States that a funded personnel ceiling shall be provided to the Veterans'Administration. Requires the Director of the Office of Management and Budget to certify to the appropriate committees of Congress and to the Comptroller General that such ceiling has been provided. Directs the Comptroller General to report to the appropriate committees of Congress as to whether the Director has complied with such requirement. Requires the Administrator of Veterans' Affairs, before reorganizing or redistributing the functions of the bureaus, agencies, offices, or activities within the Veterans' Administration, to submit to Congress for 60 days a plan describing proposed changes. Makes such plan effective if neither House of Congress adopts a resolution of disapproval. Requires a veteran to have completed at least 24 months of an obligated period of service before such veteran is eligible for benefits administered by the Veterans' Administration, including disability benefits, hospital and medical care, and burial benefits. Preserves the right of certain blinded veterans being furnished hospital or nursing home care in a Veterans' Administration blind rehabilitation center or clinic to continue to receive full pensions.

(Measure passed Senate, amended) Veterans' Disability Compensation, Housing, and Memorial Benefits Amendments of 1981 - Title I: Veterans' Disability Compensation Benefits - Increases the rates of veterans' compensation for: (1) wartime disability compensation; (2) additional compensation for dependents; (3) clothing allowances paid to certain disabled veterans; and (4) the anatomical loss or loss of use of both hands or both arms. Title II: Survivors' Dependency and Indemnity Compensation Benefits - Increases the rates of veterans' dependency and indemnity compensation for: (1) a surviving spouse; (2) surviving children; and (3) supplemental children's benefits. Title III: Automobile Assistance and Adaptive Equipment Amendments - Increases the amount of assistance for providing an automobile or other conveyance to eligible veterans. Directs the Administrator of Veterans' Affairs to provide automobile adaptive equipment for veterans entitled to compensation for ankylosis. Title IV: Veterans' Administration Housing Benefits Amendments - Permits the Administrator to guarantee graduated-payment plan home loans. Increases the maximum amount of assistance for specially adapted housing for disabled veterans. Extends the maximum terms of Veterans' Administration guaranteed loans for mobile home purchases. Extends the delimiting period for educational benefits for surviving spouses of certain service-connected disabled veterans. Permits the Administrator, in the case of certain State and local government institutions of higher learning, to waive the requirement that an institution make pro rata refunds to students who drop a course before completion before the Administrator can approve nonaccredited courses for the purposes of veterans' educational benefits. Title V: Miscellaneous Provisions - Requires the continued payment of a pension to a veteran undergoing a prescribed program of rehabilitation services while institutionalized. Directs the Administrator to furnish a memorial headstone or marker to commemorate any veteran whose remains are unavailable because of a donation to science, a burial at sea, or other causes. Directs the Administrator to set aside suitable areas in national cemeteries to honor such veterans. Directs the Administrator to review and analyze the literature relating to the long-term adverse health effects in humans of exposure to radiation. Directs the Administrator to report to Congress on the results of such review with recommendations for future action. Requires the Administrator to prescribe regulations to be applied to the resolution of claims for benefits administered by the Veterans' Administration based on exposure during service in the armed forces to radiation from nuclear devices. Sets forth the minimum active-duty service requirement to establish eligibility for veterans' benefits. Designates the Veterans' Administration Medical Center in Reno, Nevada, as the "Ioannis A. Lougaris Veterans' Administration Medical Center." Title VI: Effective Dates - Sets forth the effective dates for the various provisions of this Act.

(Reported to Senate from the Committee on Veterans' Affairs with amendment, S. Rept. 97-153) Veterans' Disability Compensation, Housing, and Memorial Benefits Amendments of 1981 - Title I: Veterans' Disability Compensation Benefits - Increases the rates of veterans' compensation for: (1) wartime disability compensation; (2) additional compensation for dependents; (3) clothing allowances paid to certain disabled veterans; and (4) the anatomical loss or loss of use of both hands or both arms. Title II: Survivors' Dependency and Indemnity Compensation Benefits - Increases the rates of veterans' dependency and indemnity compensation for: (1) a surviving spouse; (2) surviving children; and (3) supplemental children's benefits. Title III: Automobile Assistance and Adaptive Equipment Amendments - Increases the amount of assistance for providing an automobile or other conveyance to eligible veterans. Directs the Administrator of Veterans' Affairs to provide automobile adaptive equipment for veterans entitled to compensation for ankylosis. Title IV: Veterans' Administration Housing Benefits Amendments - Permits the Administrator to guarantee graduated-payment plan home loans. Increases the maximum amount of assistance for specially adapted housing for disabled veterans. Title V: Miscellaneous Provisions - Requires the continued payment of a pension to a veteran undergoing a prescribed program of rehabilitation services while institutionalized. Directs the Administrator to furnish a memorial headstone or marker to commemorate any veteran whose remains are unavailable because of a donation to science, a burial at sea, or other causes. Directs the Administrator to set aside suitable areas in national cemeteries to honor such veterans. Directs the Administrator to review and analyze the literature relating to the long-term adverse health effects in humans of exposure to radiation. Directs the Administrator to report to Congress on the results of such review with recommendations for future action. Requires the Administrator to prescribe regulations to be applied to the resolution of claims for benefits administered by the Veterans' Administration based on exposure during service in the armed forces to radiation from nuclear devices. Sets forth the minimum active-duty service requirement to establish eligibility for veterans' benefits. Title VI: Effective Dates - Sets forth the effective dates for the various provisions of this Act.

Veterans' Disability Compensation and Survivors' Benefits Act of 1981 - Title I: Veterans' Disability Compensation Benefits - Increases the rates of veterans' compensation for: (1) wartime disability compensation; or (2) additional compensation for dependents; and (3) clothing allowances paid to certain disabled veterans. Title II: Survivors' Dependency and Indemnity Compensation Benefits - Increases the rates of veterans' dependency and indemnity compensation for: (1) a surviving spouse; (2) surviving children; and (3) supplemental children's benefits. Title III: Effective Date - States that the provisions of this Act shall take effect on October 1, 1981.