In an election-year bow to an agency that serves one-third of all Americans, the Senate voted Tuesday to give the Veterans Administration a seat in the president's Cabinet. The bill was passed by an 84-11 vote. The House approved similar legislation last November, a week after the idea was advanced by President Reagan. Negotiators from the the Senate and House will work out minor differences between the two bills. The Department of Veterans' Affairs would become the 14th in the Cabinet and the fifth addition since 1960. The change would take effect Jan. 1, 1989. Sponsors said veterans and their dependents deserve to be heard in the highest councils of government. Opponents called the bill another example of congressional pandering to special interests. ``In recent years the VA has frequently been relegated to a relatively insignificant role within the executive branch, with the administrator having little or no access to the president or other top officials in the White House,'' said Sen. Alan Cranston, D-Calif., chairman of the Senate Veterans' Affairs Committee. Sen. Strom Thurmond, R-S.C., who has been promoting a veterans' department since 1975, said his support is not aimed at getting more money for veterans. ``Given the nature and scope of the VA, it is appropriate that we make it an executive department ... (to) ensure that these federal dollars are more effectively administered.'' Sen. Alan Simpson, R-Wyo., a former Veterans Committee chairman, opposed creation of the Cabinet seat. He bitterly criticized some veterans' service organizations for supporting the bill while they fought another measure, passed Monday by the Senate, that would allow courts to overturn some VA decisions on veterans' benefits. ``If anybody believes veterans needed a stronger voice ... than they already have, then I've missed something in the nine years I've been year,'' Simpson said. Sen. Gordon Humphrey, R-N.H., called the bill ``absurd... silly... goofy... illogical ... irresponsible. This is rubbish. This is unprincipled (prostitution) after special-interest groups.'' According to the Veterans' Affairs Committee, VA serves 27 million veterans and 49 million dependents or survivors with a budget of $30 billion, making it the largest independent federal agency. It will dispense $14 billion in income maintenance and $626 million for education and rehabilitation assistance this year. The agency and its 240,000 employees administered 90,000 patient beds in 534 health facilities and will see 20 million outpatients this year. It runs 109 national cemeteries and will bury 300,000 veterans this year. The Congressional Budget Office estimated that converting the VA into a Cabinet department would cost $33 million over five years. The biggest part of the cost would go for changing signs on VA buildings. The bill would reorganize VA operations and allow the secretary of veterans' affairs to name up to four assistant secretaries and 15 deputy assistants. The legislation requires that the top operating officers _ the chief medical director and chief benefits director _ be selected on the basic of expertise and without regard to politics. Voting against elevating VA to the Cabinet were Sens. William Armstrong, R-Colo.; Dan Evans, R-Wash.; Jake Garn, R-Utah; Humphrey; Nancy Kassebaum, R-Kan.; James McClure, R-Idaho; William Proxmire, D-Wis.; Dan Quayle, R-Ind.; Warren Rudman, R-N.H.; Simpson, and Steven Symms, R-Idaho. Not voting were Sens. Joseph Biden, D-Del.; Orrin Hatch, R-Utah; Jesse Helms, R-N.C.; Paul Trible, R-Va., and John Warner, R-Va.
