Story highlights The House passed the measure 368-55

The VA scandal during the Obama administration engulfed the department

Washington (CNN) President Donald Trump made good on a campaign promise Friday, signing into law legislation that gives leadership at the Department of Veterans Affairs more power to fire failed employees and protect those who uncover wrongdoing at the agency.

"For many years, the government failed to keep its promises to our veterans. We all remember the nightmare that veterans suffered during the VA scandals that were exposed a few years ago," Trump said during remarks in the East Room of the White House.

"Veterans were put on secret wait lists, given the wrong medication, given the bad treatments, and ignored in moments of crisis for them," he said. "Many veterans died waiting for a simple doctor's appointment. What happened was a national disgrace, and yet some of the employees involved in these scandals remained on the payrolls. Outdated laws kept the government from holding those who failed our veterans accountable."

"Today," Trump said, "we are finally changing those laws."

The law, which won bipartisan support in both the Senate and House, comes after years of stories about chaos inside the VA, including CNN investigations in 2013 and 2014 that found dozens of veterans died or were seriously injured because of long wait times at hospitals across the country.

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