Prepared Statement only.

It is time to think outside the box and tackle this very pervasive problem.

After years of lobbying by his family and veterans' groups, Congress in February passed the Clay Hunt Suicide Prevention for American Veterans Act.

I think the things that have been spoken by my colleagues talking about veteran health care in a vacuum outside of health care in general is the wrong way to go about this.

I think you need to expand this program where you can touch a buddy that was in the service.

I think all of you have hit on this. It is the people we are not reaching.

There is a need for all of us as a whole to change the messaging around the VA and around suicide.

I think more research is important.

I think this is moving in a direction that many of us wanted to see.

I thank my good friend from New York. It is a phrase we sometimes throw around in here without a lot of authenticity behind it, but I can tell you, in this case, a gentleman who served this Nation three decades in uniform and has had a…

A lot of good food for thought helping us prepare as we go forward.

I appreciate his advocacy for our producers in the first district of Minnesota.