A few months after winning re-election, Congressman Rick Larsen touted transportation as his focus this year and maintained his advocacy of NAS Whidbey Island during a visit to Langley Saturday.

Rep. Larsen, D-Everett, swung by the Village by the Sea as part of his first community coffee. The talk was also a chance to hear from constituents of the Second Congressional District, which spans San Juan and Island counties and includes parts of Whatcom, Skagit and Snohomish counties.

Larsen gave a short presentation of things he’s working on, such as the bill being criticized for “gutting” the Dodd-Frank financial reforms, the Keystone pipeline, immigration and campaign finance reform.

Larsen supported the financial reforms bill, despite claims that it takes away several provisions and safeguards created after the financial crisis almost a decade ago.

“I think the attention it’s getting is greater than it deserves,” Larsen told the crowd of about 50 people gathered in the back room of Useless Bay Coffee Company, complete with orders being uttered over the speaker from time to time, interrupting Larsen and others.

Speaking against the Citizens United decision, which removed the restrictions of political contributions by a non-profit corporation, and has since been extended to for-profit companies, Larsen drew a round of applause from the crowd.

“It is a wrong decision, I thought,” Larsen said, adding that he rejected the omnibus bill last year because of a provision that allowed for private and corporate donors to give “well over” $1 million to political conventions.

Related to spending and the federal budget, Larsen received several questions about health care, Social Security and veterans benefits during a 45-minute question and answer period. One man asked Larsen about income disparity growth and how Congress could remedy the problem of the rich getting richer and the poor and middle class seeing stagnant wages and rising inflation.

It’s not an overnight fix, said Larsen, but increasing the federal minimum wage, improving transportation and the Buffett Rule will help. The latter is named after financial investor Warren Buffett and would ensure a minimum tax rate of 30 percent for households making more than $1 million a year.

Another woman questioned the security of Social Security and called it “genocide.” Larsen rejected that description, but acknowledged that he was concerned about benefits being held hostage by the Republicans who, he said, want to privatize parts of it.

“I think the best decision is to scrap the cap,” Larsen said, referring to the Social Security tax limit of $110,100 earned.

Questions quickly turned toward the military, with one about redirecting spending from armed services to domestic issues and a series about war policies including Syria and Iraq.

Garrett Newkirk, a member of Citizens of Ebey’s Reserve which is working to close Outlying Field Coupeville, asked about the planes’ safety and the economic impacts of noise on Whidbey. Larsen disagreed that there are major economic impacts, but said the Environmental Impact Statement study was the proper channel for people to voice their concerns. He also highlighted steps his office was taking to see a compromise, including a hangar for run-ups, quieter engine design, tech-based landings to reduce the amount of necessary training, sound surveys and improving the communication from the Navy base in Oak Harbor to the surrounding area.

Newkirk countered several points, including the hangar, citing an old record of decision by the Navy which he said stated it was too costly to build a hangar. Larsen reiterated that he was not in favor of closing the base or the air field.

Toward the end of the meeting, the questions veered toward more fringe topics for the congressman. One man, who identified himself as a Ukrainian, asked where the indignation was over alleged human rights violations perpetrated by the new government in the now Russian-occupied area of Crimea. After visiting Ukraine a few weeks ago, Larsen said he supported President Barack Obama’s decision to support the new government.

“I don’t have any indignation with the Ukrainian government,” Larsen said.

One man asked Larsen if the 28 redacted pages of the 9/11 report would be released or if he had read it. Larsen gave his shortest response of the morning with a quick, terse, “No.”

Larsen later toured the Nichols Brothers Boat Builders shipyard in Freeland.