WASHINGTON — President Obama today signed legislation by Sen. Daniel Akaka that aims to get services to veterans faster by stabilizing funding for the Department of Veterans Affairs, which has been plagued by top-heavy bureaucracy and budget swings.

The new law allows the department to work off a two-year budget instead of a one-year budget, making it unique among Cabinet-level agencies in Washington.

It's considered a necessary first step for a raft of reforms in the works for the Veterans Affairs Department meant to eliminate the hurdles many veterans face as they seek care and benefits. Federal budget delays have resulted in late funding for the VA in 20 of the past 23 years.

The bill-signing before a crowd of 200 at the White House was a crowning achievement for Akaka, who has long fought for veterans' issues and who took over as chairman of the Senate Veterans' Affairs Committee in 2007.

Politico, an inside-politics Washington newspaper, called the bill one of the top legislative achievements for Hawaii's junior senator, who was written off as ineffective by Time magazine in 2006.

"This is for our veterans," the four-term senator said today in an interview before the bill-signing, where he stood behind Obama's left shoulder. "We have not been able to provide the care required of us thus far. But with this, we will be able to do more advance planning so we can hire the personnel we need and provide the service our veterans deserve."

Obama, who co-sponsored the bill with Akaka when he was senator, called it long overdue.

"We're here today for a problem that has run on for too long," the president said. "It's frustrating for our vets, who pay the price when budgets are delayed — the new doctors, nurses and critical staff that aren't hired, the new medical equipment that isn't purchased, the construction of new facilities and clinics that isn't started, the new programs for medical care that are delayed."