Seth Moulton

DEFENDING REPRODUCTIVE FREEDOM

As a member of the House Pro-Choice Caucus, I am a strong defender of a woman’s right to choose. We all deserve the right to make our own healthcare decisions. No politician or Supreme Court Justice should have a say in the most private personal decisions we have to make, and it’s taking us back a century to have mostly male politicians in Washington dictating what women across the country can do. I am proud to support legislation like the Women’s Health Protection Act that would enshrine women’s rights over their bodies and bills that would defend access to contraception and medicated abortion pills like mifepristone.

This is about freedom versus government control — control over a deeply private, life-changing healthcare decision that should be made by an individual, not her elected officials. I will continue to look for avenues to protect and expand bodily autonomy and reproductive freedom in Congress.

BUILDING ECONOMIC SECURITY

America is strongest when opportunity and prosperity are within reach for every American. Last year, congressional Democrats passed the Inflation Reduction Act which made historic investments in combating climate change, reducing inflation, and bolstering economic growth. Under the Biden administration, inflation is decreasing and more Americans are employed than at any time in the last fifty years. Continuing to address rising costs and corporate monopolies must remain a top priority to ensure the economy can work for every American.

By promoting good jobs, strengthening workers' rights, and protecting programs like Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid, we can help keep the American Dream alive. We need to invest not just in higher education, but also in career and technical education, small businesses, and our social service programs.

As the national security threats we face and the dangers of the climate crisis pile up, we need to take this opportunity to invest in the middle and working classes to create millions of jobs on our shores and foster an economy where everyone plays by the rules and pays their fair share. I will never stop fighting to make sure every American can build a foundation of economic security and prosperity that lets our families and our communities thrive.

CONFRONTING THE CLIMATE CRISIS

No community is immune to the dangers of climate change, and the urgency to combat the threat gets greater by the day. Every possible solution should be on the table. As one of the earliest supporters of the Green New Deal, I believe we must invest in green jobs and prioritize untapped sources of clean energy, including nuclear energy, but we can do it in a way that grows our economy and American jobs.

By further incentivizing environmental technology investment, we can make America the global leader in green innovation and then sell those technologies to China and everyone else — not the other way around. This investment must go hand-in-hand with reductions in the use of greenhouse gasses, which is why I am a strong supporter of the carbon dividend and preventing additional drilling on federal lands. We can cut pollution even further by shifting funding for highway expansion and air travel to cleaner, faster, and more sustainable systems like high-speed rail, giving Americans more options in the process.

When it comes to the environment, action matters, and it’s only going to cost our economy more the longer we wait. The U.S. should lead the way in sustainability, resiliency, and innovation, setting an example for the rest of the world. We owe it to our children and our grandchildren to get this right.

ENDING GUN VIOLENCE

Gun violence is an epidemic in this country, yet Congress remains hamstrung by obstructionists when it comes to passing meaningful gun safety legislation. I carried a gun every day as a Marine in Iraq. Guns saved my life. Grenades also saved my life, but that doesn’t mean we allow grenades to be sold and used freely on our streets today. I believe we need common-sense solutions that most Americans, even most gun owners themselves, are in favor of that do not infringe on the Second Amendment.

For example, we need background checks for violent history before every gun sale, which is supported by 86% of gun owners. We need to close the so-called “boyfriend loophole” and pass more extensive red flag laws. We need to finally ban assault weapons and high-capacity magazines, designate mass shootings as acts of terrorism, and expand safe storage and Extreme Risk Protection Order laws. We need more leaders with the political courage to take action because our kids are dying in our schools and on our streets. I was one of the first lawmakers to refuse to participate in Republican-led “moments of silence” in Congress because the status quo is unacceptable: we need real change.

The United States is in the midst of a mental health crisis, and this issue is personal to me. After speaking publicly about confronting my own challenges with post-traumatic stress after returning from the Iraq War, we developed a nationwide strategy to improve access to high-quality mental health care and break the stigma around asking for it. I’m proud to have worked across the aisle to author and pass the National Suicide Hotline Designation Act, which created the new 988 mental health lifeline. Now anyone in America, from any phone, can simply dial 988 to be connected to a mental health crisis counselor the same way you would dial 911 in a fire. In just the first year since 988 was implemented in 2022, over four million texts, calls, and chats were answered, and countless lives have been saved.

I continue to fight to expand mental healthcare access for our active duty service members and veterans. One recent example is The Brandon Act, a bill I passed to protect active duty servicemembers who seek mental healthcare treatment. I will continue fighting for the resources necessary to ensure every American — particularly those in underserved and lower-income communities — can access the affordable mental healthcare options they need and deserve.

DEVELOPING AFFORDABLE HOUSING

Massachusetts is facing a housing affordability crisis, and the old playbook just isn’t working. Having a safe place to live is a basic human right. But for far too many families, it doesn’t feel that way. Fundamentally, we need to address basic supply and demand by increasing density in places people want to live and improving transportation options to match housing and jobs. This means reforming rigid zoning laws, eliminating arbitrary restrictions like minimum parking requirements, and prioritizing development centered around transit hubs so more people can access alternatives to our congested highways.

We also must think beyond traditional housing policy. Transforming our current commuter rail system into a 21st-century regional rail network that includes high-speed East-West Rail across the Commonwealth would be truly transformative for affordable housing. If we do this, the market will respond to fast rail access by building denser, walkable, vibrant, and sustainable communities.

This is a local, state, and federal challenge, and I am committed to working across all levels to address it. Working hand-in-hand with the private sector, we can create a better, more sustainable housing future for the North Shore and beyond.

REFORMING OUR IMMIGRATION SYSTEM

We all want secure borders. We all want to stem the flow of drugs into our country. We all want to stop human traffickers. And we should all want immigration enforcement that upholds our American values. We also need responsible immigration to continue growing our economy as we always have. I support comprehensive immigration reform that safeguards the border and curbs illegal immigration while providing immigrants who follow the law a humane process and a fair chance at the American Dream. Doing so also reduces the deficit by getting legal immigrants into jobs, off government support, and on our tax rolls.

Today, however, political fearmongering is driving our lawmaking. The majority of immigrants make our country better, stronger, and more competitive every day. That’s why I am such a proud supporter of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrival (DACA) program and the DREAM Act to provide them with a clear pathway to citizenship. We need people of all skill levels to fill vacant jobs and keep our economy heading in the right direction. It’s crazy for us to educate top scientists from around the world, only to send them back to countries like China when they want to stay and work with us. I am eager to keep fighting to create a fairer immigration system that includes a functional path to citizenship, robust workers’ rights, and border enforcement that is both targeted and accessible to asylum seekers.

Americans deserve 21st-century infrastructure and a vision to get us there. Instead of just repairing old potholes and failing bridges, we need to modernize our infrastructure to give American’s 21st-century options to get where they’re going faster and more easily than we can today. I am the proud author of the American High-Speed Rail Act, which would invest $205 billion into high-speed rail, create at least 2.6 million direct American jobs over five years, and provide Americans with a new travel option that is much faster and safer than driving, cleaner than flying, and is never delayed by weather. It would also help solve the affordable housing crisis by connecting communities across the country and unlocking new job opportunities that are currently out of reach for many small towns.

The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law passed in 2021 offers an unprecedented opportunity to upgrade our nation's crumbling infrastructure, and we are already feeling its impact in our communities. Despite that, it is clearly not enough. We need to aggressively invest in our rural and urban communities across the country to create a future that re-establishes the U.S. as a global leader in transportation and infrastructure.

STRENGTHENING OUR NATIONAL SECURITY

America’s national security is the foundation of our prosperity. During my four tours as a Marine infantry officer in Iraq, I experienced the honor of defending this country and the horrors of war. Today, we face the most serious challenges to our national security in a generation, from the ongoing war in Ukraine to China’s rapid militarization, while we look ahead to new-age weapons systems powered by artificial intelligence. We must meet this moment with a unified diplomatic, economic, and military strategy that both preserves American leadership and avoids the threat of war. The unique strength of our alliances, our economy, and our military provide an unparalleled opportunity to effectively do just that.

At times like this, Congressional oversight over defense spending is more important than ever. We must ensure that our military budget decisions are being driven by strategy, innovation, and effective deterrence. Ultimately, it’s our brave servicemembers who are at the heart of this mission. That’s why I am a proud champion of veterans and active duty servicemembers in Congress and on the House Armed Services Committee.