Georgetown Wicked Local: Moulton Talks Guns, Veterans, and More
Congressman Seth Moulton (D-MA) visited Flint Public Library in Middleton on June 17 for the latest in his “Congress on Your Corner” series.\
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The first-term Democrat discussed a wide range of issues including gun control, veterans’ health and student loans.\
Moulton recently gained national attention when he, along with several other Democrats, boycotted a moment of silence for the victims of the Orlando mass shooting, insisting on legislation instead of prayers.\
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In Middleton, he reiterated his stance and said conservative Republicans are blocking any gun control efforts.\
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“The conservative wing of the Republican party has a strangle hold our politics, a strangle hold on America and, frankly, a strangle hold on common sense," Moulton said to the crowd of about 20 people.\
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Moulton, a Marine who served in Iraq and Afghanistan, said high-capacity weapons don’t belong in the hands of civilians.\
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“I’m not opposed to the second amendment,” Moulton said. “We already restrict a lot of weapons of war. I was trained in how to use grenades and landmines. When I was in Iraq, I carried a grenade every single day. But we’ve made a decision, as a community and as a society, that we’re not going to allow people to have grenades.”\
This year, Moulton introduced the Faster Care for Veterans Act, which is aimed at making veterans’ health care more efficient with technology improvements.\
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“It will enable veterans to make appointments with their smart phones,” Moulton said. “So you’ll be able to literally see that there’s a cancellation on Thursday, click on that and take that appointment. That’ll be good for veterans who use smart phones. For everyone else who’s just waiting through the phone lines, it’ll help free them up.”\
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Moulton acknowledged that his bill will only put a dent in the veterans’ health care crisis, he said he’s against privatizing the Veterans Administration and veterans’ health care, saying it would jam up private hospitals and create longer wait times. And he lashed out at the long delays in the VA, both for treatment and appeals.\
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“If you start a VA appeal today, you’ll get heard in the year 2022,” he said. “Imagine if you all submit your tax returns to the IRS, and the IRS says, ‘Yeah, you’re owed $2,000 back. We’ll pay you in 2022.’ We wouldn’t put up with that, and yet that’s what veterans put up with every day.”\
Middleton Town Administrator Andrew Sheehan stood up and brought up the need for improvements to the district’s infrastructure.\
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“Is there anything coming out of Congress, in terms of infrastructure investments, whether it’s up-front money, straight money or zero-interest loans?” Sheehan asked. “We welcome that kind of action.”\
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Moulton, who has made economic improvement a cornerstone of his campaigns, took the opportunity to once again call out conservatives on this issue.\
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“This is another place where a lot of reasonable Democrats and reasonable Republicans agree, but it’s just the Tea Party that doesn’t want to spend any federal money on anything,” Moulton said.\
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Moulton said he’d like to see the establishment of an infrastructure bank, which would provide more funding but also have more oversight regarding where the money is being spent.\
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“And again, a bipartisan proposal, but with the conservative wing of the Republican party, we can’t get it done,” Moulton said.\
A few people at the town hall expressed frustration over their kids’ student loans, particularly the high interest rates they must pay. Moulton said he’s had the same frustration but steered the conversation to the soaring cost of tuition.\
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“What’s happened is that a school that used to cost $10,000 a year now realizes they can raise tuition to $20,000,” Moulton said. “All of those people [students] will still be able to come – pay $10,000 and then get a $10,000 loan every year – and at the end of the day, they’ll have to figure out how to pay back that $40,000 at the end of four years.”\
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A couple people called Moulton out on the $20,000 figure, noting that most colleges cost a lot more than that, but he responded that he was just using the figure for perspective.\
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“The point is that it’s about the cost of tuition, not about the interest rates on the loans,” Moulton said. “Because it’s a great deal for the school… and it’s up to the student to figure out how to pay that money back.”\
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State Rep. Ted Speliotis was at the town hall and stood up reiterating the need for lower college tuition.\
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“Over the last few years, more than any time in my life, parents say to me, ‘My son or daughter got accepted to this school, but we’re going to this one because the package is better,’” Speliotis said. “And ultimately, it’s a lower school, not the same prestige. It almost makes me think of my grandparents’ time, when there was more of a caste system in this country, where the rich had opportunity and those at the bottom didn’t.”\
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People also asked questions about medical marijuana, the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade agreement and universal health care.\
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Moulton said he favors medical marijuana research, has no position yet on the TPP and blamed the Tea Party for there not being universal health care. A few people in the audience disagreed with that last assessment.\
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With his “Congress on Your Corner” series, Moulton plans to visit all 39 towns in the Massachusetts Sixth Congressional District. According to reports, Moulton has held more town halls than any other Democrat in the House and ranks 13th overall.\
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