Indexing of taxes became a part of a substitute tax bill, backed by President Reagan in a July 27, 1981 evening address to the nation, and known as the Conable-Hance Substitute Tax Bill, H.R. 4260.
Gradison also served as ranking Republican of the Ways and Means Subcommittee on Social Security during the Social Security system reform of the early 1980s, and in particular when the Social Security Reform Act of 1983 was passed into law.