Congressman Seth Moulton joined Boston Public Radio to talk about controversial Air Force funding, the Patriot Act and bulk collection of citizen information, the death penalty for Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, ISIS in Iraq, and Deflategate.
Questions are paraphrased, and answers are edited where noted [...].
You've come out as an opponent of funding that would allow the Air Force to keep using the A-10 Thunderbolt aircraft. Why?
A lot of politicians on Capitol Hill want to put money into an aircraft that the Air Force says it doesn't need. [...] That's just evidence that I’m not doing this for political reasons, but really just thinking what the front-line troops need .
And you think it's not financially feasible to keep it going?
The reality is we live in a tough environment where we don't have all the money that we would like.
As someone who's served in the armed services, this might be seen as a risk on your part.
I’m taking a serious risk here. [...] It’s hard because people want jobs and need jobs, [but] people know where I stand with the troops and where I stand with our national security.
You and some fellow House members voted to end NSA bulk data collection as part of the USA Freedom Act.
This is another tough note because. [...] I was opposed to the bulk data collection, and had lot of colleagues [who weren't], but I think this new bill strikes a pretty good compromise. [I think] why we haven't had another major attack since September 11th is because the government is doing a good job protecting their security.
And yet, you wanted to take at least some of that power away.
At the same time we've got to protect the basic rights in the Constitution. [...] It’s a tough vote. We’re trying to strike the right balance here and it's a difficult issue.
Do you think Dzhokhar Tsarnaev should get the death penalty?
I’m morally opposed to the death penalty, and you can't be morally opposed to something like that and make exceptions, even for something like his.
You and Oklahoma's Rep. Steve Russell have an op-ed in the Gloucester Times about Iraq. Has your military service made it easier to work across the aisles on issues like this?
I think that's true, and it's at least a starting point. I’ve made a sincere effort to reach out to Republicans. [...] My message throughout the campaign was, we need to work together. Not compromise our principles, but find places where we have common ground.
And this way, you can try to shape what's unfolding in Iraq before we repeat mistakes there.
We were able to find common ground with what to do with Iraq, and I think that it was a very powerful statement. [...] It was more powerful to co-author that op-ed.
You guys sound legitimately concerned that we don't have enough direction when it comes to taking on ISIS.
First of all we really need a strategy, and I fear — and Rep. Russell agrees with me — we don’t [have one]. The worst mistake you could make is to send American troops into combat again [and] not have a long-term political and diplomatic plan. [...] Let's come up with a serious political strategy to deal with the dysfunctional Iraqi government. [...] If it's not us in there, it's going to be Iran. So I think we need to have a plan, we need to have a strategy.
What do you make of the NFL's decision to crack down on Tom Brady and the Patriots after the Wells Report came out?
I haven't read the report [but] Tom Brady's never lied to us. I don't see why he'd lie to us now. Look, he's a great quarterback. He didn't need to deflate the ball to win those games.
