Chapter 863. To authorize the President to consolidate and coordinate governmental activities affecting war veterans
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CHAP. 863.— An Act To authorize the President to consolidate and coordinate governmental activities affecting war veterans. July 3, 1930.[[H. R. 10630](/us/bill/71/hr/10630).][[Public, No. 536](/us/pl/71/536).] *Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled*, Veterans’ Administration.Consolidation of executive and administrative bureaus, etc., for relief of veterans, into, authorized.
(a)That the President is authorized, by Executive order, to consolidate and coordinate any hospitals and executive and administrative bureaus, agencies, or offices, especially created for or concerned in the administration of the laws relating to the relief and other benefits provided by law for former members of the Military and Naval Establishments of the United States, including the Bureau of Pensions, the National Home for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers, and the United States Veterans’ Bureau, into an establishment to be known as the Transfer of duties, powers, etc.Veterans’ Administration, and to transfer the duties, powers, and functions now vested by law in the hospitals, bureaus, agencies, or offices so consolidated and coordinated, including the personnel thereof, and the whole or any part of the records and public property belonging thereto to the Veterans’ Administration.
(b)Administrator of Veterans’ Affairs.Powers, etc. Under the direction of the President the Administrator of Veterans’ Affairs shall have the power, by order or regulation, to consolidate, eliminate, or redistribute the functions of the bureaus, agencies, offices, or activities in the Veterans’ Administration and to create new ones therein, and, by rules and regulations not inconsistent with law, shall fix the functions thereof and the duties and powers of their respective executive heads. Sec. 2. Appointment of. There shall be at the head of such Veterans’ Administration an administrator to be known as the Administrator of Veterans’ Affairs, who shall be appointed by the President, by and with the Salary.Functions, duties, and powers conferred upon.advice and consent of the Senate. Such administrator shall receive a salary of $12,000 a year, payable monthly. Upon the establishment of such Veterans’ Administration all the functions, powers, and duties now conferred by law upon the Commissioner of Pensions, the Board of Managers of the National Home for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers, and the Director of the United States Veterans’ Bureau are hereby conferred upon and vested in the Administrator of Veterans’ Affairs. Such administrator, under the direction of the Control, etc., of designated agencies, etc., under.Administrative duties in other.President, shall have the control, direction, and management of the various agencies and activities enumerated in and referred to in section 1 of this Act, and shall be charged with all the administrative duties relating to the National Home for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers and the Bureau of Pensions now imposed by law upon the Secretary Review of appeals.of War and the Secretary of the Interior, respectively. All final decisions or orders of any division, bureau, or board in the Veterans’ Administration shall be subject to review, on appeal, by such administrator. Sec. 3. Transfer of title of National Home for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers to the United States.Adverse interests to be extinguished. All property the title of which now stands in the name of the Board of Managers of the National Home for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers is hereby transferred to and the title thereof vested in the United States. If by reason of any defeasance or conditional clause or clauses contained in any deed of conveyance to the National Home for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers the full and complete enjoyment and use of any of the property hereby transferred to the United States shall be threatened, it shall be the duty of the Attorney General, upon request of the President of the United States, to institute in the district court of the United States for the district within which *Proviso*.Acceptance by gift, etc., authorized.such property is located such proceedings as shall be proper to extinguish all outstanding adverse interests: *Provided*, That the Attorney General shall have authority to procure and accept on behalf of the United States by gift, purchase, cession, or otherwise, evidenced by 1017appropriate instruments of conveyance or cession, absolute title to and complete jurisdiction over all of the lands and other property herein transferred and conveyed to the United States. Sec. 4.
(a)The personnel on duty at the time of consolidation atTransfer of personnel on duty. the various branches of the National Home for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers shall be transferred to and given appointment in the Veterans’ Administration, subject to such change in designation and organization as the Administrator may deem necessary.
(b)Such of the personnel as are not inmates of any of theCivil-service status for personnel, not inmates, authorized. branches of the National Home for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers may, by Executive order, be given a civil-service status in accordance with the laws relating thereto upon such terms and conditions as the President may direct. Whether covered into the civil service or not,Salaries.Vol. 42, p. 1488; VoL 45, p. 776.[U. S. C., p. 67; Supp. IV, p. 25](/us/usc/p67).*Ante*, p. 1003. the salaries of such officers and employees (other than inmates) shall be fixed in accordance with the Classification Act of 1923, as amended (United States Code, title 5, chapter 13; United States Code, Supplement III, title 5, chapter 13). Sec. 5.
(a)When the consolidation and coordination herein providedOrder, etc., to issue when consolidation, etc., effected.National Home for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers, etc., thereupon to cease. for shall have been effected in the Veterans’ Administration the President shall so declare by proclamation or order, whereupon the corporation known as the National Home for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers and the Board of Managers shall cease to exist.
(b)All contracts and other valid and subsisting obligations ofContracts of to continue, as obligations of the United States. the corporation, the National Home for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers, shall continue and be and become obligations of the United States, and the United States shall be considered as substituted for said corporation with respect to all such demands either by or against said corporation, unless and until they shall thereafter be superseded or discharged according to law. The outstanding obligationsEnforceable at law. assumed by the United States by virtue of the provisions of this subdivision may be enforced by suit in the Court of Claims or in the district courts of the United States according to the ordinary provisions of law governing actions against the United States, and such courts shall have the power to enter judgment against the United States, with interest, in the same manner and to the same extent as if said corporation were party defendant. No such suitTime limit for bringing suit. shall be maintained upon any cause of action existing at the time of the dissolution of said corporation or arising simultaneously therewith, unless brought within two years from the time of such dissolution. Sec. 6.
(a)All unexpended appropriations in respect of anyUnexpended appropriations available. hospital, bureau, agency, office, or home consolidated into the Veterans’ Administration shall, upon such consolidation, become available for expenditure by the Veterans’ Administration and shall be treated as if the Veterans’ Administration had been originally named in the laws making the appropriations.
(b)All orders, rules, regulations, and permits or other privileges,Orders, rules, etc., to continue in effect until superseded, etc. issued or granted in respect of any function consolidated under the provisions of this Act and in effect at the time of the consolidation, shall continue in effect to the same extent as if such consolidation had not occurred, until modified, superseded, or repealed by the Administrator.
(c)The Administrator shall make annually, at the close of eachReport annually to Congress. fiscal year, a report in writing to the Congress, giving an account of all moneys received and disbursed by him and his administration, describing the work done, and stating his activities under subdivision
(b)of section 1 of this Act, and making such recommendations*Supra*. as he shall deem necessary for the active performance of the duties and purposes of his administration. 1018 Sec. 7. Laws, not in conflict herewith, remain in force. All laws relating to the Bureau of Pensions, the National Home for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers, and the United States Veterans’ Bureau, and other governmental bureaus, agencies, offices, and activities herein authorized and directed to be consolidated, so far [R.S., sec. 4835, p. 937](/us/rs/s4835/p937), repealed.[U. S. C., p. 678](/us/usc/p678).as the same are applicable, shall remain in full force and effect, except as herein modified, and shall be administered by the Administrator, except that section 4835 of the Revised Statutes is hereby repealed. Approved, July 3, 1930.