Cite as: 513 U. S. 115 (1994)
Opinion of the Court
gress's legislative silence as to the VA's regulatory practice over the last 60 years serves as an implicit endorsement of its fault-based policy. There is an obvious trump to the re-enactment argument, however, in the rule that "[w]here the law is plain, subsequent reenactment does not constitute an adoption of a previous administrative construction." Dema-rest v. Manspeaker, 498 U. S. 184, 190 (1991). See also Massachusetts Trustees of Eastern Gas & Fuel Associates v. United States, 377 U. S. 235, 241-242 (1964) (congressional reenactment has no interpretive effect where regulations clearly contradict requirements of statute). But even without this sensible rule, the reenactment would not carry the day. Setting aside the disputed question whether the VA used a fault rule in 1934,4 the record of congressional discussion preceding reenactment makes no reference to the VA regulation, and there is no other evidence to suggest that Congress was even aware of the VA's interpretive position. "In such circumstances we consider the . . . re-enactment to be without significance." United States v. Calamaro, 354 U. S. 351, 359 (1957).
Congress's post-1934 legislative silence on the VA's fault
approach to § 1151 is likewise unavailing to the Government. As we have recently made clear, congressional silence " 'lacks persuasive significance,' " Central Bank of Denver, N. A. v. First Interstate Bank of Denver, N. A., 511 U. S. 164, 187 (1994) (quoting Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation v. LTV Corp., 496 U. S. 633, 650 (1990)), particularly where administrative regulations are inconsistent with the controlling statute, see Patterson v. McLean Credit Union, 491 U. S. 164, 175, n. 1 (1989) ("Congressional inaction cannot amend a duly enacted statute"). See also Zuber v. Allen, 396 U. S. 168, 185-186, n. 21 (1969) ("The verdict of quiescent years cannot be invoked to baptize a statutory gloss that is
4 At the time of the 1934 reenactment, the regulation in effect precluded compensation for the " 'usual after[-]results of approved medical care and treatment properly administered.' " See Brief for Respondent 31.
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