An Act to deny entitlement to veterans' benefits to certain persons who would otherwise become so entitled solely by virtue of the administrative upgrading under temporarily revised standards of other than honorable discharges from service during the Vietnam era; to require case-by-case review under uniform, historically consistent, generally applicable standards and procedures prior to the award of veterans' benefits to persons administratively discharged under other than honorable conditions from active military, naval, or air service; and for other purposes.
Public Law 95-126 · S. 1307 · 95th Congress · began in the Senate
Signed by Jimmy Carter (D) on Oct 8, 1977 · Armed Forces and National Security
Sponsor: Sen. Strom Thurmond (R-SC)
Cosponsors (28): Sen. Harry Byrd, Sen. Milton Young,
Passage votes
- HouseMethod not stated
- SenateMethod not stated
Data notes
The final version of the law, as each chamber passed it. A chamber that passed it by voice vote or unanimous consent has no count. “Method not stated” means the record does not say how the chamber voted. Where the record has a member-by-member vote, the “Who voted for it” section shows who voted yea.
Summary
The Congressional Research Service’s plain-language summary of what the law does.
(Senate agreed to House amendment with an amendments)
Denies veterans' benefits retroactively to any individual whose entitlement is based on an upgraded discharge under specified revised standards not made applicable to all persons administratively discharged or released from active military service under less than honorable conditions. Requires the board of review to make a case-by-case determination whether an upgraded individual would have been awarded an upgraded discharge under discharge review standards made applicable to all persons administratively discharged under less than honorable conditions. Entitles to veterans' benefits any individual whose upgraded discharge would have been awarded under previous unrevised review standards.
Precludes deserters and most persons discharged because of an unauthorized absence of more than 180 days from receiving benefits as a result of a board of review determination.
States that the Administrator of Veterans' Affairs should not promulgate any new or revised regulations providing any unique or special advantage to veterans who have received upgraded discharges under revised standards, or otherwise make any special distinction between such veterans and other veterans.
Grants to person administratively discharged under conditions other than honorable an entitlement to health care for disabilities incurred or aggravated during active-duty service in the line of duty.
Committees
The committees the bill was sent to, and what each did with it.
Data notes
A committee links to its page only where it exists in the current Congress; older and renamed committees are named without a link.
Timeline
From introduction to signing, newest first: the committees, the floor and the president. 14 actions.
- Oct 8, 1977Became lawBecame law · Signed by President.
- PresidentPresident · Public Law 95-126.
- Sep 27, 1977PresidentPresident · Measure presented to President.
- Sep 26, 1977PresidentPresident · Measure enrolled in Senate.
- PresidentPresident · Measure enrolled in House.
- Sep 23, 1977Resolving differencesResolving differences · House agreed to Senate amendments to House amendments.
- Sep 22, 1977Resolving differencesResolving differences · Senate agreed to House amendment with amendments.
- Sep 12, 1977FloorFloor · Measure passed House, amended, in lieu of H.R. 8698.
- FloorFloor · Measure called up by unanimous consent in House.
- Sep 8, 1977FloorFloor · Measure passed Senate, amended, roll call #351 (87-2).Senate roll call 351
- FloorFloor · Measure called up by unanimous consent in Senate.
- Jun 28, 1977CommitteeCommittee · Reported by Senate Veterans' Affairs Committee
- Apr 19, 1977CommitteeCommittee · Referred to Senate Veterans' Affairs Committee
- IntroducedIntroduced · Introduced in the Senate
Data notes
Shows the introduction, each committee and subcommittee step the source dates (referral, hearings, markup, report, discharge), and the floor, conference, presidential and became-law steps. Calendar placements, messages between the chambers, amendments and committee report numbers are not shown for laws before the 108th Congress. Two entries the source lists twice are shown once.
Official record
The bill’s full text and every action, including introduction and committee steps, are on Congress.gov. Data through Oct 7, 2026.