Working with the Biden-Harris Administration

The historic election of President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris marked a turning point for our nation to heal and unify once again. Congressman Scott Peters is looking forward to restoring bipartisan efforts of listening to each other and working together to solve problems and move our country forward. He is focused on building back better after the former administration weakened our progress on pivotal issues.

Recovering from COVID-19

Congressman Peters worked with his colleagues on the House Committee on the Budget and the Energy and Commerce Committee to refine President Biden’s American Rescue Plan and ensure the package targeted relief to the families, businesses, and individuals who needed it most. He successfully fought for the inclusion of his Tracking COVID-19 Variants Act to help the CDC scale up genome sequencing efforts and effectively track new virus mutations. The final package signed by the President also incorporated several items that Congressman Peters advocated for, including funding for state and local governments to better support our communities, money to reopen schools safely and get our kids back in the classroom, and funding to scale up vaccine distribution.

Protecting our Environment

President Biden signed into law a bipartisan resolution co-introduced by Congressman Peters, reinstating two key Obama-era regulations on methane emissions. It is one of the most significant pieces of climate legislation enacted in a decade, and setting stronger regulations on methane pollution emitted by the nation’s oil and gas industry will work to slow global warming, ensure our nation’s global leadership in the climate fight, and strengthen our economic competitiveness. Congressman Peters is glad President Biden understands the urgency of our climate crisis and ensured this resolution’s enactment.

In February of 2022, the Biden Administration announced plans to boost clean manufacturing and strengthen our efforts to combat the climate crisis. Congressman Peters’ USEIT Act, which became law in 2020, will be implemented as part of these actions and will incentivize carbon capture and utilization research and development. His legislation will help move us toward a clean energy economy by reducing dangerous emissions and encouraging the development of new technologies and uses for carbon.

Lowering the Cost of Prescription Drugs

Congressman Peters worked with the White House and his congressional colleagues to negotiate a compromise deal on drug pricing reform, to be included in the Build Back Better Act. The historic deal will keep Democrats’ promise to lower the cost of prescription drugs for seniors by allowing Medicare to directly negotiate the prices of older drugs in both Parts B and D. The deal is largely based on Congressman Peters’ Reduced Costs and Continued Cures Act, and will:

• establish a $2,000 cap for all seniors’ prescriptions for the first time ever,
• generate billions in savings that can be invested in improving other health care programs,
• establish a $35 monthly cap for insulin,
• promote lower-cost options by incentivizing and boosting marketplace competition,
• pay for these benefits using pharma profits,
• all while preserving the ability to develop life-saving new cures.

Bringing our Country’s Infrastructure Up To Speed

Congressman Peters was proud to visit the White House to watch President Biden sign the Infrastructure Investments and Jobs Act – widely known as the Bipartisan Infrastructure Framework (BIF) – into law. This robust bill provides massive investments to create millions of good-paying jobs; advance our clean energy economy; update our roads, bridges, and railways; expand and improve access to transit, broadband, safe drinking water, and more. It also includes Congressman Peters’ POWER ON Act to to modernize our national power grid, reduce energy costs for American families, and help deploy more renewable energy. The Department of Energy announced that the POWER ON Act will be implemented as part of their “Building a Better Grid” initiative. It will help boost renewable energy usage by modernizing our national grid and building more transmission lines to get renewable energy from where it’s produced, to where it’s needed.

Addressing Student Debt

The cost of higher education and the collective debt of young people hinders economic growth and opportunity. To help young Americans begin to make investments like buying a home or saving for retirement, Congressman Peters introduced and helped pass the Employer Participation in Repayment Act. It incentivizes employers to help pay their employees’ student loans. The bill was included in the CARES Act of March 2020 and received a five-year extension under the FY 2021 federal spending package signed by President Biden.

 

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