SALEM, MA — U.S. Seth Moulton predicted a looming government default amid the political fight around raising the national debt ceiling, envisioned a 30-minute train trip from Boston to Springfield and warned of the catastrophic consequences of a war with China over Taiwan during a wide-ranging virtual town hall from his Salem home Monday night.
Moulton postponed what was to be an in-person town hall in Andover to March 2 because of the snow but held the 30-minute virtual town hall in its place.
Moulton predicated what could be a “really messy fight” over the debt ceiling increase in a battle he said may resemble the prolonged battle within the Republican caucus over electing the Speaker of the House of Representatives earlier this month.
“We can’t let the debt get out of control,” Moulton said. “I don’t want to be passing on a massive debt to my kids, my grandkids someday. We have to get it under control. But doing it by refusing to raise the debt ceiling is not a reasonable or rational way to do it. We have to have better long-term fiscal planning.”
Moulton noted that the debt ceiling was routinely raised under Presidents Donald Trump and Joe Biden in recent years, but that he was concerned what he called “extreme” aspects of the Republican delegation would “hold the whole country hostage” over a government default that would result in massive job loss and cause instability in the stock market.
“That’s my prediction,” he said. “I hope it doesn’t come true.”
Moulton pressed what has been a core of his in recent years of revamping the state’s regional public transportation system — which he said is “stuck in the 1920s” — to increase speed, and efficiency and cut down on carbon emissions.
He said public transportation is key to solving the state’s housing crunch.
“We need more housing in Massachusetts,” he said. “We need access to affordable housing. You can’t just build more skyscrapers in downtown Boston to meet this need. That’s not realistic. Nor can we get there through rent control. We can put rent control on in Boston. But that’s not going to increase the housing stock. In fact, it will probably do the opposite.
“What we often forget is the intimate connection between access to housing and access to transportation.”
Moulton said a major detriment of the current commuter rail is that it is often faster and more convenient to drive long distances or into Boston than it is to take the train — “Why would you get out of your car and take the train if the train is slower? In the rest of the world, trains are faster than cars.”
A true highspeed regional rail system, he said, would enable someone to easily commute from Western Mass. into Boston — which he said should be a 30-minute ride — as well as take one continuous train from the North Shore to the South Shore.
“That would be completely transformative for housing in Massachusetts,” he said. “Having regional rail —fast, modern regional rail, not old-fashioned rail that the commuter rail system is today — is key to easing the most pressing economic need we have in the Commonwealth today, which is access to housing.
Moulton spoke about the new Democratic House leadership empowering members to be valued and productive “for their skills, not just for their loyalty” compared to the long-time leadership under Nancy Pelosi, the need for more outreach and support for veterans who suffer from both physical and mental health issues as a result of their service, and the catastrophic result of an armed confrontation with China over Taiwan.
“This is such a big issue because we absolutely must prevent a war with China,” he said. “The consequences are almost hard to fathom. You could wake up and have two U.S. aircraft carriers at the bottom of the Pacific Ocean — 10,000 sailors’ lives gone overnight. That’s just one example of what is easily imaginable of what the scale of conflict between the United States and China would be.
“That’s why it is such a priority of mine to focus on this issue that, sure admittedly, a lot of people don’t think is an issue. Let me tell you it’s an issue. … We have to convince (Chinese President) Xi Jinping that invading Taiwan is a bad idea.”
(Scott Souza is a Patch field editor covering Beverly, Danvers, Marblehead, Peabody, Salem and Swampscott. He can be reached at Scott.Souza@Patch.com. Twitter: @Scott_Souza.)
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