Seth Moulton on Homeland Security Democratic Presidential Challenger (withdrawn); MA Rep.

Boost the defense budget

EIGHT CANDIDATES HAVE SIMILAR VIEWS: Michael Bennet; Joseph Biden, Jr.; Cory Booker; Peter Buttigieg; John Hickenlooper; Amy Klobuchar; Seth Moulton; Beto O`Rourke; Tim Ryan.

Other Democratic contenders align with the more moderate--or even hawkish--wing of the Democratic party and support larger defense budgets, especially in key areas they consider high priorities.

Needed courage to talk about post-traumatic stress

Veterans deserve the best health care in the world, period

A: If we can't do it through the VA, then that should be an option. That should be an option. I believe what President Obama advocated for. What he wanted was to have a public option that competes with private options as well. What some people in our party want to do is force everybody onto a health care plan designed in 1963. I think we can do better than that.

Focus on cybersecurity to deal with real threats to US

Better funding and services for veterans

1. Improve VA health care quality
2. Properly fund the VA to eliminate the claims backlog
3. Expand educational opportunities in the GI Bill.

Supports targeting terrorists, according to PVS rating.

Project VoteSmart infers summary responses from campaign statements and news reports The PVS survey summarizes candidate stances on the following topic: 'National Security: Do you support targeting suspected terrorists outside of official theaters of conflict?'

Funding wars separately is gimmick against sequestration.

Congressional Summary: HR 1735: The National Defense Authorization Act authorizes FY2016 appropriations and sets forth policies regarding the military activities of the Department of Defense (DOD), and military construction. This bill also authorizes appropriations for Overseas Contingency Operations (OCO), which are exempt from discretionary spending limits. The bill authorizes appropriations for base realignment and closure (BRAC) activities and prohibits an additional BRAC round.

Wikipedia Summary: The NDAA specifies the budget and expenditures of the United States Department of Defense (DOD) for Fiscal Year 2016. The law authorizes the $515 billion in spending for national defense and an additional $89.2 billion for the Overseas Contingency Operations fund (OCO).

Opposition statement by Rep. Gerry Connolly (May 15, 2015): Congressman Connolly said he opposed the bill because it fails to end sequestration, and pits domestic investments versus defense investments. Said Connolly, `This NDAA uses a disingenuous budget mechanism to circumvent sequestration. It fails to end sequestration.`

Support statement by BreakingDefense.com(Sept, 2015): Republicans bypassed the BCA spending caps (the so-called sequester) by shoving nearly $90 billion into the OCO account, designating routine spending as an emergency war expenses exempted from the caps. This gimmick got President Barack Obama the funding he requested but left the caps in place on domestic spending, a Democratic priority. `The White House`s veto announcement is shameful,` Sen. John McCain said. `The NDAA is a policy bill. It cannot raise the budget caps. It is absurd to veto the NDAA for something that the NDAA cannot do.`

Legislative outcome: House rollcall #532 on passed 270-156-15 on Oct. 1, 2015; Senate rollcall #277 passed 70-27-3 on Oct. 7, 2015; vetoed by Pres. Obama on Oct. 22, 2015; passed and signed after amendments.

Combat international and domestic Islamophobia.

H.R.5665: Combating International Islamophobia Act: This bill establishes within the Department of State the Office to Monitor and Combat Islamophobia and addresses related issues. The bill requires annual reports to Congress about human rights and religious freedom in foreign countries to include information about Islamophobia, such as:

1. acts of physical violence or harassment of Muslim people,
2. instances of propaganda in government and nongovernment media that attempt to justify or promote hatred or incite violence against Muslim people, and
3. actions taken by a country`s government to respond to such acts. The office shall coordinate and assist in preparing these portions of the reports.

Rationale to vote NO (Rep. Zeldin, R-NY, 12/14/21)::: Lee Zeldin, one of two Jewish Republicans in Congress, announced that he will vote against H.R. 5665, a partisan resolution: `Rep. Ilhan Omar`s bill that is supposed to combat Islamophobia does not even define `Islamophobia`. In fact, the way the bill is worded intentionally plays into Omar`s calculating game that any criticism about any topic relating to her, even if it has absolutely nothing at all to do with her religion, could be defined as `Islamophobia`. That is absurd and I will vote `no`!`

Rationale to vote YES (NY1.com, 12/15/21)::: `Our country`s commitment to defending freedom of religion and belief goes back centuries, and the Administration strongly believes that people of all faiths and backgrounds should be treated with equal dignity and respect around the world,` a statement of support issued by the White House read. The bill comes after Republicans in Congress have targeted the three Muslim members of Congress as members of a `jihad squad.`

Legislative Outcome: Passed House 219-212-3 on 12/14/2021, Roll no. 448)` introduced in Senate on 12/15/21 and referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations; no further Senate action during 2021.