What does Seth Moulton believe? Where the candidate stands on 5 issues

Publish date: 2024-07-23

A congressman from Salem, Massachusetts, Seth Moulton has been serving in the House of Representatives since 2015. Moulton is a veteran with a distinguished military background; he joined the Marines months before 9/11, and was part of the first wave of troops to enter Baghdad in 2003.

Moulton didn’t tell anyone, not even his parents, that he had earned the Bronze Star medal for his service in Iraq. It took a Boston Globe investigation into his military history for that to come to light. Moulton, 40, sits on the House Armed Services Committee, and created the Serve America PAC, which endorses and backs Democratic veterans running for public office.

Here is where Moulton stands on key issues in the 2020 presidential election.

National Security/Foreign Policy: Cut massive weapons program and replace with smart cyber technology and investment in research.

The central issues of Moulton’s campaign are boosting troops and military spending and making smarter national security decisions. Despite serving in Iraq, he’s been a vocal critic of the war. In his announcement video, Moulton pledged to cut “massive weapons programs” that the country doesn’t need and to reinvest that funding into other programs. He has backed greater investment in cyber and autonomous weapons and scientific research. Moulton also believes in building new diplomatic alliances — like a Pacific version of NATO — to counter what he sees as growing threats from Russia and China. He supports foreign aid programs and diplomatic approaches to foreign policy.

Economy: Comprehensive tax reform that expands the middle class.

Moulton has co-sponsored legislation since joining Congress that would increase the federal minimum wage from $7.25 to $12 per hour by 2020. He supports comprehensive tax reform, and did not support the Republican tax bill. Moulton said that it “burdens small businesses while providing tax breaks for companies and major corporations that ship jobs overseas.”

Health Care: Opposes single payer health care system, supports improving the Affordable Care Act.

Moulton has said healthcare is a human right and everyone should have access to affordable health care. He does not support Medicare for All, a plan other 2020 Democrats have embraced. As a veteran, Moulton receives medical care from the the Department of Veteran Affairs, but he has pointed out flaws in the VA’s single-payer health care model. He supports the Affordable Care Act, and believes Congress should focus on improving the law by lowering costs and assuring better coverage.

Immigration: Supports comprehensive immigration reform that includes a path to citizenship for DACA recipients.

Moulton supports a comprehensive immigration reform bill that focuses on curbing illegal immigration while providing a pathway to citizenship for recipients of the Obama-era Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, or DACA, which protects young immigrants who were brought to the country illegally as children.

Climate Change: Green New Deal is about green jobs.

The Massachusetts Democrat was one of a few lawmakers who signed on as a co-sponsor of the Green New Deal in February. Since then he has said the ambitious climate and energy bill should be retooled as a jobs package that also fights climate change. In an op-ed last month in the Des Moines Register, Moulton proposed specific programs that could come out of a broader Green New Deal bill, including a Federal Green Corps that would allow Americans to spend two years retrofitting buildings to make them more energy efficient. In 2016 he backed a resolution calling on the U.S. to get at least 50 percent of its electricity from clean energy by 2030.