mr. nicholson. thank you all for your testimony, and i'll recognize myself for questions for five minutes. first question for the entire panel, mr. robert mcdonald, as you know, has been nominated by the president, president obama, to be the next secretary, permanent secretary. i'm sure we all agree that, of course, he'll face -- he's got his hands full to restore the trust in the v.a., but what is your opinion of the president's choice to have mr. mcdonald run the agency, the d. -- the department as the permanent secretary of v.a.? does his lack of experience running a health care system concern you? we'll start with the gentleman -- actually, ma'am, we'll start with you, ms. jones. >> the american legion stands ready to assist anyone that is appointed as the secretary. whoever the choice is, the american legion has a history of add sew candidating for -- advocating for veterans, and as we've stood by the previous secretaries, the american legion will continue to stand by and let mr. mcdonald know t

mr. alex nicholson, legislative director for the iraq and afghanistan veterans of america. welcome. you all for joining us here this morning. thank you so much for your patience. your complete written statements will be made part of the hearing record. ms. jones, if you're ready, you're now recognized for five minutes. >> i wonder how may people in this room would bet the last $40 to make some sense of the va? mr. vice chairman, traffic on behalf of the national and the 2.4 me members of the american legion, 90 for your diligence and oversight during this crisis. the american legion has spent the last six weeks setting up crisis centers. we have seen over 2000 veterans. iban each one of those crisis centers and i can tell you are stand that it is bad and then deeply saddened. the american legion is that it would listen to veterans and widows and children who one by one told us stories of broken promises, pain, mistreatment, delays and just even death. many of them full of hurt, anger, confusion and uncertainty just want to be heard. they told their stories many times but their pleas

mr. nicholson, you're recognized. >> thank you, mr. chairman, ranking member misead and members of the committee. we really appreciate the opportunity to share with you our views and recommendations regarding mental health access at the v.a. and suicide prevention efforts. combatting veteran suicide is v.a.'s top priority for 2014. and it's a critically important issue that affects the lives of tens of thousands of service members and veterans, especially of the wars in iraq and afghanistan. in the 2014 member survey, our members listed suicide prevention and mental health care as the number one issue facing our generation of veterans. in that same survey that was just conducted in february and march of this year, 47% of respondents reported that they knew an iraq or afghanistan veteran who had attempted suicide. and over 40% knew an iraq and afghanistan veteran who had died by suicide. we have over 270,000 members. 40% of them know someone who was a fellow veteran of iraq and afghanistan who has died already by suicide. in response to

mr. nicholson said we have got to multitask here. his point on suicide the chairman and i passed the act. now now they work is done so we will move onto the next crisis of the day whatever it will be an forget we need to make sure we are looking at that national veteran strategy and figure out a way. you guys have said this too. alex when you said you weren' weren't -- don't feel left out, i was not either. i've bring it to the point you have said it and i think carl maybe you said it you took responsibility as an organization. the question i have is and i will take responsibility until i have no teeth to effect what is being done and i would suggest to you and trying to figure this out this committee took the entry point into the system. i don't even know who's on it. that's what happens and good luck getting in over their or coming over here. i will take responsibility but why is the second-largest agency and the federal government have one of the smallest committee's? we have the resources to do more on that. how come we are not a

mr. nicholson, you're recognized. >> thank you, mr. chairman, ranking member misead and members of the committee. we really appreciate the opportunity to share with you our views and recommendations regarding mental health access at the v.a. and suicide prevention efforts. combatting veteran suicide is v.a.'s top priority for 2014. and it's a critically important issue that affects the lives of tens of thousands of service members and veterans, especially of the wars in iraq and afghanistan. in the 2014 member survey, our members listed suicide prevention and mental health care as the number one issue facing our generation of veterans. in that same survey that was just conducted in february and march of this year, 47% of respondents reported that they knew an iraq or afghanistan veteran who had attempted suicide. and over 40% knew an iraq and afghanistan veteran who had died by suicide. we have over 270,000 members. 40% of them know someone who was a fellow veteran of iraq and afghanistan who has died already by suicide. in response to

mr. alex nicholson who is the director for the iraq and afghanistan veterans of america. welcome. thank you all for joining us this morning and for your patience. your complete statements will be made a part of the hearing record. if you're ready you are now recognized for five minutes. >> i wonder how many people in this room was that their last $40 a longshot chance to make sense of the va. mr. vice chair and ranking member on the half of the 2.4 million members of the american legion, thank you for your diligence and oversight during this crisis. the american legion spent the last six weeks setting up crisis centers. he'd seen over 2,000 veterans. i've been at each one of the crisis centers and i can't argue firsthand that it's bad. and i'm deeply saddened. the american legion is sad. we've listened to veterans and widows and children who buy one until the stories of broken promises, team come in this treatment, delays and even that. many of them are full of hurt and anger, confusion and uncertainty and just want to be heard. we've told the story many times but they have fallen

. >> we've got a minute or two left so we will go to mr nicholson. the st trying to take poverty discussion out on a basis you talk getting people out of poverty. up the ladder. he administration has been talking more about income , ality, raising minimum wage working on the spread between rich and poor versus the in poverty. why do you think it is so important to work on income income equality? >> because i want economic growth. a faster greg e economy and most of those ideas n my opinion will serve slow economic growth. hrough job creation that reduces income mobility. differently.maybe if you are going 30,000 feet our goal shouldn't be to look at economy as a fixed slices ie where the should be spread more equitably. it should be to grow the pie so e can have more economic mobility and job creation and end updeas in many cases doing more harm than good in that they slow down economic creation and job that does nothing to help people n the bottom rung of the economic ladder. we should focus on helping rise, focused on opportunity, focused on removi