SCOTT PETERS
Q:
Why should voters choose you over your opponents in this election?
A:
I have a proven record of working with everyone, Republicans and Democrats, to get things done. I’ve dedicated my career to serving San Diego as an environmental attorney, community volunteer, City Council member and president, port commissioner and chairman, coastal commissioner and congressman. In Congress, I focus on making Washington D.C., responsive to what’s important to San Diego. I’ve fought for and helped win significant increases in the federal budget for basic scientific research, hundreds of millions of dollars for investments in our military, full funding for the $2 billion Mid-coast trolley extension, a $750 million new border crossing to facilitate better commerce and border security and over $300 million to address crossborder pollution from Mexico. I’ve stood up to President Trump, and disagreed with my own party when I thought it was the right thing to do. I will always put country and my district first.
Q:
What will be your top domestic and international priority in Congress?
A: Domestically, I’m focused on San Diego: tourism, our military, veterans, science and technology, trade with Mexico, immigration, gun safety reform and more. On the Energy and Commerce Committee, I’m working on bipartisan climate solutions. One-party solutions can’t defeat this existential threat; we need effective policy that can become law. Internationally, I’m fighting President Trump’s withdrawal of the U.S. from world leadership. His tariffs hurt Americans, with no apparent end game. He quit the Trans Pacific Partnership, which would set high standards for the entire Pacific. The USMCA (United States-mexicocanada Agreement) is comparatively modest. We should be driving international climate policy, but he quit Paris. We gained nothing for his abandonment of the Iran nuclear deal; now the nation is building weapons again. And when we pulled troops suddenly from Syria, betraying the Kurds, we signaled to our allies not to count on us and our enemies not to fear us. Trump’s disengagement is unwise and dangerous.
Q:
What California issue deserves more attention?
A: The biggest obstacle to California’s continued prosperity is the cost of housing. As a member of Congress, I co-chaired the New Democrat Coalition’s housing task force, looking for ways the federal government can address the national housing shortage, through regulatory and financial incentives. I fought for a change to the formula that HUD uses to distribute homelessness funding to more accurately reflect regional needs, and to get San Diego its fair share. I led the fight against President Trump’s move to cut low-income housing assistance for veterans. This year I introduced the bipartisan Build More Housing Near Transit Act to incentivize increased housing supply next to new transit projects that receive federal funding.
Q:
What should the federal government do about climate change?
A: Scientists have warned that the world must achieve net zero carbon emissions by midcentury, and achieving that milestone is my priority on the Energy and Commerce Committee. There is no magic bullet. We must 1) decarbonize our economic sectors: electricity, transportation, manufacturing, agriculture, buildings and aviation; 2) regulate damaging short-lived climate pollutants, especially methane; 3) impose a price on carbon; 4) invest in technological innovation for new fuels and energy storage; and 5) develop carbon capture technologies. I’ve proposed my own bills and assembled a Climate Playbook of legislation authored in previous years, much of it bipartisan and already on the way to passage. The U.S. must also engage and lead internationally. In 2017, I addressed the Pontifical Academy of Sciences in Vatican City on U.S. climate policy. This year, I was honored to help represent our country at the United Nations COP25 climate conference in Madrid.
Q:
What changes would you make to health care?
A: Our goal is universal coverage — all Americans should have access to health care. I would preserve private insurance for those who can afford it and want to keep it. I would increase subsidies for those who can’t afford it. We should adopt federal policies that reduce premiums, including instituting a federal reinsurance program and by making sure that younger people are in the insurance pool through strategies that include automatic enrollment. I voted in favor of H.R. 3, a comprehensive Democratic bill which would empower the federal government to negotiate lower drug prices. Since the Senate is unlikely to pass or even vote on it, I’m committed to continue to work on legislation that lowers the price of prescription drugs while preserving the innovation ecosystem in the U.S.
Q:
How big a threat is the national debt to America’s future?
A:
The national debt is at its highest level as a percentage of GDP since the 1940s. Next year, we’ll spend as much on interest as on children or Medicaid. In 10 years, we’ll spend more on interest than defense. This level of debt will cripple economic growth and imperil our ability to respond to security threats, economic emergencies and natural disasters. As a House Budget Committee member, I’ll continue to work toward a sustainable budget path, where debt grows more slowly than the economy. I vociferously opposed the irresponsible Republican tax cuts of 2017, and I’ve been one of the few no votes from either party against recent budget and spending increases that weren’t offset or paid for, even though these bills achieved some of my own legislative priorities. Consequently, I was one of 10 members of Congress named a “Fiscal Hero” by the nonpartisan Campaign to Fix the Debt.