The Salem News: Moulton Talks Faster Care for Veterans, Election Fall-Out

GLOUCESTER — U.S. Rep. Seth Moulton was well into his town meeting Monday with an overflow crowd of Cape Ann constituents when a military veteran in the audience described his own experiences with the Veterans Administration health system as largely positive.

After thanking the man both for his service and his question, Moulton conceded that his own experience with the VA system — as a Marine Corps veteran who served four tours in Iraq — fell more accurately within the gray area of mixed results.

The Democrat representing Massachusetts' 6th Congressional District, just re-elected to his second term in November, said his experience at the VA facilities in Massachusetts also had been positive. But outside the Bay State? Not so much.

Not long after being elected, Moulton went to a VA facility in Washington, D.C., to schedule a minor surgery. He didn't mention to anyone he was a congressman and, like all patients, he checked in and waited. Then he waited some more before a facility staffer told him part of the delay was because "we can't prove you're a veteran."

Fear not, the staffer told the congressman, they might consider treating him "for humanitarian reasons."

That experience, Moulton said, helped convince him more had to be done to make sure veterans are receiving the best and most timely care possible at VA medical facilities.

Among the first legislation he filed as a freshman lawmaker was a package of bills to improve VA training and streamline the process for navigating the VA health system.

Most recently, Moulton filed a bill to allow veterans to use smartphones to make online appointments at the VA rather than the traditional, cumbersome and incredibly time-consuming method of calling for appointments.

"It passed the House, and Saturday night it passed the Senate," Moulton said. "The legislation is now sitting on the president's desk."

District duties

Moulton opened by speaking for about 10 minutes about what he perceives as his duties and responsibilities as an elected official and how his office operates.

He talked about the diverse nature of the communities that comprise his congressional district, how they differ demographically and on issues such as economic development.

He talked about how he believes his job is to represent everyone in the district, not just Democrats. He talked about how he considered it his obligation to stand up to President Obama when he disagreed with him on issues such as the nation's military strategy in Iraq and Afghanistan.

"Regardless of who is in the White House, I'm going to stand up strongly when I disagree with the president," Moulton said. "I'm still waiting for my GOP colleagues to do the same with President-elect Donald Trump."

Moulton then took questions.

Global considerations

A Vietnam veteran asked Moulton what, as a congressman, he was doing to make sure the nation didn't get dragged into any more pointless and divisive conflicts around the globe.

Moulton, a sitting member of the House Armed Services Committee, said it has been his experience that members of Congress who served in the military and have "seen the effects firsthand" are the most cautious when it comes to initiating or supporting military action.

He also reiterated his support for the establishment of a national service program that would allow citizens to serve in a wide range of public service capacities — from the military to the Peace Corps.

"If more people got the opportunity to serve their country, I think we'd be a lot more careful," Moulton said.

One audience member asked about the danger of allowing refugees, driven from economic, social and military conflicts in their own nations, to enter the United States.

"How do we vet these people?" the man asked Moulton.

Moulton responded that the process for vetting refugees before entry into the United States on humanitarian reasons is even more stringent than the traditional immigration process.

"The refugee pipeline has the strictest vetting of any path into the United States," he said.

On Democrats

Finally he touched upon the recent national election in which the Democratic Party emerged appearing wholly out of touch with middle-class voters, as well as his subsequent role opposing the election of U.S. Rep. Nancy Pelosi as minority leader by House Democrats.

His stance, he said, was that Democrats need to engage in some serious "self-examination" of what ensued in the election that produced Republican majorities in the House and Senate, as well as control of the White House.

"How did we lose touch with so many voters?" said Moulton, who supported Rep. Tim Ryan of Ohio as minority leader. "Where have the Democrats gone wrong?"

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