Vietnam Veterans of America have held numerous over 100, almost 150 now of town hall meetings all across the country asking veterans about their exposures to Agent Orange and how they think it affected their families.

I urge all of the Members of this Committee to support this legislation so that we can begin to turn the tide against suicide.

While there is no bill that will completely end veteran suicide, this comprehensive bipartisan measure is a step in the right direction.

I urge my colleagues to support this measure so we can pass it quickly into law and start addressing an issue that all of us know happens all too often.

One veteran lost to suicide is too many.

H.R. 5059 is the Clay Hunt Suicide Prevention for American Veterans Act. It is an example of how we get things right on Capitol Hill.

Instead of presuming to know what is best for Veterans, we should simply ask them, don't you think?

This bill is what you get when you have folks sitting around a table, trusting one another and working to get it right for our Nation's veterans.

The model of the Veterans Administration basically comes straight from Abraham Lincoln's second inaugural.

The reality is the VA has done very little in the way of studying Agent Orange affects in anybody ever, in the whole history of Vietnam veterans coming home.

I urge all of my colleagues to support this important piece of legislation and show our Veterans with action, and not just promises, that we have them 'covered.'