To amend title 38, United States Code, to authorize the payment of dependency and indemnity compensation to the surviving spouses of certain former prisoners of war dying with a service-connected disability rated totally disabling at the time of death.

Authorizes the payment of dependency and indemnity compensation to the surviving spouse of a veteran who died while totally disabled from a service-connected disability, who was a former prisoner of war who died after September 30, 1999, and who had been diagnosed as having one of the diseases specified as being service-connected (and therefore compensable) under veterans' disability compensation or benefits provisions.