the 2012-13 national commander james koutz.are proud to have you with us today and we look forward to your testimony and learning from you where the legion stands on your legislative agenda. i also want to welcome the legion's of delivery that is here as well. my friends from florida to i had a chance to visit with this morning at breakfast very briefly. but instead of me going through a complete statement i ask unanimous consent i can enter the full statement into the record, and with that, i would like to go ahead and introduce -- let's see -- mike, would you like to give a quick opening statement? >> thank you very much, mr. chairman. i , too would like to welcome the national commander here this morning as well as the national president of the american legion auxiliary. i want to thank both of you for your advocacy for our veterans and in during support of the american legion is over 2.5 million members for our veterans. before we start, i would also like to extend compliments to your washington, d.c., staff, to let you kno