Supported by Eisenhower, the "Act to Establish a Permanent Nurse Corps of the Army and Navy and to Establish a Women's Medical Specialists Corps in the Army", or the Army-Navy Nurses Act of 1947, passed and became Public Law 8036, granting regular, permanent status to female nurses. Then in early 1946, Chief of Staff Eisenhower ordered legislation drafted to make the WACs a permanent part of the armed forces. The bill was unanimously approved by the Senate but the House Armed Forces Committee amended the bill to restrict women to reserve status, with only Representative Margaret Chase Smith dissenting.