Scott Peters

I arrived in Congress at a time when the Republican leadership was setting a new standard for policies attacking women. Time and again, those on the far right have forced votes in an effort to take away the right for women to make their own health care decisions, or even simply to have access to safe health care. I’ve stood up to Republicans when they have voted to defund Planned Parenthood and attempted to permit employers to deny coverage for basic women’s health care, like birth control. That’s why I have a 100% rating from Planned Parenthood Action Fund and have had their endorsement in all my races.

Unbelievably, some in Congress still want to fight battles over reproductive choice and access to contraception. Those wars were fought and won decades ago. I will always defend a woman’s right to have the health care she wants, and I believe that only a woman, her family, and her doctor should be able to decide what is best for her health. With reproductive freedom being challenged at the Supreme Court, I cosponsored and helped pass the Women’s Health Protection Act to codify Roe v Wade and allow every person to access the health care they need, whenever and wherever they are.

I’ve also helped re-authorize the Violence Against Women Act with bipartisan support despite resistance from extremists, and I believe it’s wrong that women still continue to make less money than men for doing the same work. I am fighting to make it easier for women and their families to get ahead, and I’ve cosponsored the Paycheck Fairness Act to help end gender discrimination in pay by making wage data more accessible, empowering women to negotiate for equal pay, and strengthening enforcement.

These are basic principles, and I’m proud to continue defending women against targeted efforts to roll back decades of progress.

From securing federal dollars for San Diego’s biomedical research industry, to promoting small business and free trade, I’ve spent my time in Congress passing legislation that encourages economic growth both nationally and at home in San Diego. We are over a decade removed from the Great Recession, however, America continues to face challenging new realities in a changing world. In order to build an economy that brings opportunity to working people, we need to support the innovators who are creating the jobs of the future. We must also support our workforce by giving them the skills they need to compete for those high-quality jobs. By reforming our immigration system, making smart investments in research, education, and infrastructure, and fixing our complicated tax code, we can create economic growth that leaves no one behind. Unfortunately, our federal budget is upside down because too many in Congress are more focused on holding on to problems for political gain than on solving them. I’ll continue to work with anyone to balance the budget over time with sensible tax policy and smart cuts.

San Diego knows the transformative power of scientific research and the high-quality jobs that research creates. Scott previously worked with the Trump administration to block a Chinese company’s hostile merger with Qualcomm, one of San Diego’s largest private employers. Wireless technologies invented here in San Diego spawned Qualcomm, which has created thousands of high-wage jobs and changed the way the world communicates. Similarly, SPAWAR, another San Diego-based company, supports jobs and investment in basic research for military applications – the kind of research that led to the development of the internet and GPS. And every day on Torrey Pines Mesa, researchers at Salk, Scripps Research, Sanford Burnham, UCSD, and elsewhere use grants from the National Institutes of Health to find cures to Alzheimer’s disease and cancer. These scientific investments have transformed our world and raised the quality of life for millions; equally important, they’ve created good-paying jobs for San Diegans.

But Congress and the Trump administration tried to waver on these investments, and scientific research funding has not kept pace with inflation. I have been a consistent and vocal advocate for increasing funding for basic scientific research through the National Institutes of Health. I’ve sent numerous letters to appropriators asking for increases in the NIH budget, and in the 117th Congress, I successfully fought to increase NIH funding to a total of $49.4 billion—a record high even when adjusting for inflation. This means that Congress is finally taking bipartisan steps to adequately fund research. San Diego is among the top metro areas in the country for NIH research funding; in 2016 alone, the NIH provided about $850 million to over 90 institutions in San Diego County.

Research institutions and life-science companies support nearly 220,000 high-quality jobs in San Diego County. And as of March 2018, employees of life sciences companies on average earn more than $117,000 annually. In turn, these institutions account for roughly $33.6 billion in total economic impact in San Diego. The life sciences are critical to our local economy, and San Diego deserves a representative who recognizes the importance of ensuring that they continue to thrive.

We want the next Google or Qualcomm or the next medical breakthrough to happen in San Diego, but without serious commitment to maintain and aggressively increase investment, that next innovation could be created by a UCSD graduate … but in China or England rather than in San Diego or California.

Investing in research is one of the best ways we can drive American competitiveness and job creation while improving San Diego’s international profile as a growing innovation hub.

As a member of Congress, I believe we have a moral obligation to future generations to embrace the clean energy revolution.

I previously served as the Chair of the Climate Task Force for the Sustainable Energy and Environment Coalition, working to create green collar jobs by advancing policies that promote clean energy, domestic manufacturing, and the development of renewable energy resources. And as one of four co-chairs of the Congressional Algae Caucus, I strongly advocate for research in algal biofuels technology. In the 115th Congress, I introduced the bipartisan Algae Agriculture Act of 2018, which will make certain that algae qualifies for the same investment opportunities as other agricultural sectors.

As a nation, we must work toward a long-term energy policy that 1) creates new American jobs; 2) emphasizes greater energy independence; 3) invests in the development of alternative fuels; 4) promotes clean energy technology like wind and solar; and 5) ensures greater national security.

The economy, especially in San Diego, runs on brainpower. If we don’t educate our children, our nation won’t be able to compete for the jobs of the future. We need to make sure our K-12 education system is preparing our kids for college and ensure that any student who qualifies and wants to go to college, can afford to do so. I introduced bipartisan legislation to provide an incentive for employers to help cover the cost of their employees’ student loan bills — called The Employer Participation in Student Loan Assistance Act. This legislation 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. For those who do not choose a four-year degree, we must work toward establishing our community colleges as centers for skills training and placement.

We’ve seen the dangers presented by partisan gridlock in Congress when we repeatedly wait until the last moment to raise the country’s debt limit and we know the harms of shutting down the federal government because we can’t reach a compromise. We can’t continue to consider not paying our country’s bills and risking the basic function of our nation’s finances. I introduced the Protect America’s Credit Act to tie the debt limit increase to the nation’s GDP growth, and the Pay Down Our Debt Act to require a negotiated budget compromise if the debt starts growing faster than the nation’s economy. In 2021, after coming within days of defaulting on our debt, I co-introduced the Responsible Budgeting Act, to reform how Congress tackles the national debt limit and avoid the political theater that threatens the national economy. Combined, these reforms will help keep our credit safe around the world, while still allowing for tough fiscal discipline at home. I was even recognized as a “Fiscal Hero” by a group called Fix the Debt for my bipartisan work in tackling the national debt.

We must also reform the nation’s tax code to simplify it for the middle class and encourage American companies to create jobs in America. We should work to incentivize companies that build and expand here at home, rather than abroad. I voted to give hardworking Americans a break by making the earned income and child tax credits permanent, and have worked to extend the Research and Development Tax Credit, which incentivizes businesses to invest in innovation. I have supported legislation to repeal the Cadillac Tax, which would have likely unraveled the multi-employer health insurance options that people in San Diego depend on. And at the end of 2015, I helped pass the Omnibus spending bill, which made the R&D tax credit permanent, giving San Diego small business owners a true incentive for new innovation. In 2021, I voted to pass the Build Back Better Act, which included provisions to improve the tax code to prevent tax avoidance and ensure wealthy Americans and large corporations are paying their fair share.

Additionally, we must immediately end subsidies to oil companies that are among the most profitable companies ever. The fact that oil companies are subsidized by the taxpayers while making record profits – and while middle-class Americans are struggling – makes absolutely no sense. Keeping the earnings and jobs created by American companies at home and ending subsidies will help get us back on the road toward a balanced budget.

We must balance the budget, and we’ve got to do it the right way. In other words, it shouldn’t be on the backs of seniors and the middle class. I only support a budget that simultaneously cuts wasteful spending, tackles our long-term debt, preserves a safety net, reforms the tax code to encourage competitiveness abroad and job creation at home, supports a strong military and makes the investments in infrastructure, education and basic scientific research that will support our country and our children into the next century.

San Diego’s economy runs on brainpower. Innovation and job creation happen when we have world-class schools and educated children. We need to make sure our K-12 education system is preparing our kids for college, and ensure that any student who qualifies and wants to go to college can afford to do so. For those who do not choose a four-year degree, we must work toward establishing our community colleges as centers for job training and placement.

America has always stood behind middle-class kids who want to get an education and make a living. I know because I was one of those kids. My family could not have afforded college for me and my three sisters on the minister’s salary my father earned. We got help from financial aid, including loans and work-study. So did thousands of other kids, as well as veterans who had the GI Bill.

Education is key to making our economy strong. I passed a law with Democrats and Republicans to cut student loan interest rates, and introduced another to reduce rates further because it’s wrong for the federal government to make money on students and their families. I will keep fighting to make college more affordable while working to invest more in science, engineering, biotechnology, and research at San Diego’s universities that create the jobs of the future.

The path to success for our students is high quality education from pre-K to post-grad. Ensuring a strong core of STEM subjects (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) before college gives our students the foundation they need to flourish in San Diego’s internationally known research universities so they can lead our innovation economy in the years to come.

That’s why I’ve supported grants to build tech infrastructure in our schools and for renewable energy education programs that help students train for jobs building and maintaining our green energy systems.

San Diego has built an economic incubator for the biotech industries that are critical to our growing economy. By investing in the next generation, we can ensure they are ready to not only succeed, but innovate and continue leading San Diego forward.

I am a product of student loans, and I know that my achievements would not have been possible if these loans weren’t available to kids like me who might not otherwise have been able to afford to pay for a four-year university.  America invested in me, and now I want to make sure these same opportunities are there for my children’s generation and those who follow.

Unfortunately, the cost of higher education has skyrocketed while the middle class has taken an economic beating, and studies have shown that these spiking costs are hitting poor students the hardest. With grant money declining and costs increasing, the poorest students are having to dig the deepest and take on more and more debt just to have their shot at the American Dream. It’s one of the reasons I decided to run for Congress. And I know we can do better.

In Congress, I’ve fought to keep college costs under control and prevent the burden of student debt from blocking progress for young graduates. For example, I supported and passed a bipartisan bill to lower student loan interest rates, and introduced another to lower them further. The government should not be making a profit on the backs of hardworking students and their families. I cosponsored the Student Loan Relief Act and Student Loan Interest Deduction Act to help students entering college, and I cosponsored the Get Relief from Academic Debt Act and Private Student Loan Bankruptcy Act to help students who face tough times after graduation. Working across the aisle to overcome partisan gridlock, we’ve begun to identify the policies that can address these challenges, and now it’s important to see them through.

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, I 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 FY21 federal spending package signed by President Biden.

Our children and grandchildren are counting on us to save the planet from the perils of climate change.  Developing the models for true sustainability must happen now, before it’s too late to sufficiently respond to climate change, rising sea levels, extreme weather events, and prolonged drought.

I’ve been an outspoken advocate for tackling climate change on an international level. In the 115th Congress, I was a featured speaker at a conference of world climate experts convened by Pope Francis in Vatican City. In 2021, I co-introduced the bicameral FAIR Transition and Competition Act, which would establish a border carbon adjustment (BCA) on climate-polluting imports, create a race to the top among nations developing clean energy, and ensure we are addressing the climate crisis at home and abroad. I’ve also participated in the United Nations climate conference twice – in 2019, and 2021 when I discussed my border carbon adjustment bill with policymakers across the globe.

Data repeatedly proves the threat of climate change is urgent, and we must take action now to reverse its effects. Combatting our growing climate crisis will require us to take significant, bipartisan steps. I spoke with the San Diego Union Tribune about my environmental priorities as a member of the Energy and Commerce Committee. Read more about it, in this piece.

According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s (IPCC), without large-scale deployment of carbon dioxide removal technologies it is nearly impossible to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees above pre-industrial levels. That’s why I introduced the bipartisan, bicameral Utilizing Significant Emissions with Innovative Technologies Act (USEIT). This legislation became law at the end of 2020, authorizing $85 million to support carbon utilization and direct air capture research and encouraging federal, state, and non-governmental collaboration to facilitate planning and permitting of CCUS facilities.

We also need to continue improving methane pollution standards. Methane is a super pollutant more than 80 times as harmful as carbon dioxide and is responsible for about 25 percent of the human-made global warming we experience today. In 2021, President Biden signed a resolution of disapproval that I co-introduced to reinstate more robust methane pollution standards put in place by the Obama administration.

I worked with renowned climate scientists to lay out a plan to efficiently and effectively lower Earth’s temperature and address environmental justice. Sharply reducing emissions of super pollutants like methane, HFCs, and black carbon soot will help us slow climate change and and bend the warming curve. Read more about our plan in this piece in the San Diego Union Tribune, and this piece in the Hill.

As a member of Congress, I consider the development of a sustainable energy policy a top priority.

I serve as the Chair of the Climate Task Force within the Sustainable Energy & Environment Caucus. We are working to create green collar jobs by advancing policies that promote clean energy, domestic manufacturing, and the development of renewable energy resources.

As a nation, we must work toward a long-term energy policy that: 1) creates new American jobs; 2) emphasizes greater energy independence; 3) invests in the development of alternative fuels; 4) promotes clean energy technology like wind and solar; and 5) ensures greater national security.

San Diego is home to around 1,000 clean tech companies and has been recognized as one of the nation’s leaders for green vehicles and expansion of solar adoption.

In Congress, I’ve focused on measures to promote and help fund science and technology education, plus developing new programs to help students prepare for green jobs that will grow along with our clean energy sector.

That isn’t just good for our environment, it’s good for our economy. Solar jobs are jobs anchored in the community, and they don’t carry the same volatility as the prices of fossil fuels like oil. In fact, a nationwide study conducted by Environment California ranked San Diego as the second most “solar city” in America based on cumulative solar capacity. And we’re just getting started.

It’s also important that the federal government set a good example. That’s why I cosponsored the Energy Efficiency Government Technology Act to require that federal data centers be energy efficient. It would save money long term and model the leadership we need.

I am the co-founder of the Walkable and Livable Communities Institute, a national organization which helps city planners find ways to incorporate more bike paths, sidewalks, and pedestrian-friendly streets so people can get around without their cars.

We implemented this in Bird Rock while I was a member of the San Diego City Council. We made the neighborhood safer, more walkable, and turned a strip of boulevard filled with shuttered storefronts into a thriving small business district that’s now filled with boutiques, restaurants and night life. Doing more redevelopment like this should be a part of our plan for a more sustainable energy policy and greater energy independence.

It’s critical that we advance policies to sufficiently respond to climate change and protect our nation’s clean air, water, and environment. Unfortunately, there are still those who choose to ignore the overwhelming scientific evidence collected by many of the world’s best research institutions that makes it clear that climate change is a real, immediate threat.

Congress should act to stop price-gouging at the pump by holding Wall Street commodities traders and speculators more accountable. Experts agree that speculation in energy markets drives up the price of oil, which raises the price of gas for consumers.

Over time, Congress must develop and support a long-term energy strategy that reduces our dependence on foreign oil and fossil fuels altogether. I’ve voted against increases in oil drilling both onshore and offshore without sufficient safety protections in place, and I’ve pressed to hold coal producers accountable for their impact on the environment, their workers, and surrounding communities.

But while we work toward the right sustainable energy and environmental protection policies, it’s critical that we take the consequences of extreme weather seriously. I’ve helped lead the call for more resources to support drought victims and to combat wildfires. I also introduced the Prevent Outages with Energy Resiliency Options Nationwide (POWER ON) Act to modernize our national power grid and make it easier to transfer electricity from regions that make renewable energy to regions that need it. It became law as part of the historic Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act in 2021, and will help decarbonize the power sector, electrify the transportation sector, adapt the grid to withstand the devastating effects of climate change, and lower electricity costs for consumers.

By protecting our air and water, preserving our forests and open spaces, and developing infrastructure that allows us to consume less and recycle more, we can create the model for a healthier, safer, more sustainable world for the generations to come.

Every American deserves access to quality, affordable health care, and our country should aspire to a system in which health insurance coverage is universal. While the Affordable Care Act (“ACA”) has expanded coverage to millions more Americans, contributing to record high rates of coverage in San Diego County, our work does not end there. I’m working on a plan with Republicans and Democrats to lower premiums and deductibles, improve quality of care, and stabilize the individual insurance markets — all to ensure that health insurance is more affordable for everyone and we never return to a system where people are denied care due to pre-existing conditions or lose their homes and savings to medical bill bankruptcies.

Health care in America needs to be accessible and affordable for everyone. While the Affordable Care Act was a crucial step in fixing decades-old problems within our health care system, premiums and deductibles continue to rise, and the individual insurance markets are gripped with uncertainty. The solution to these problems lies not in abolishing the protections on which millions of Americans have come to rely, but in strengthening the law to improve the quality and lower the cost of care for those unable to benefit from the ACA. I’ve proposed several pieces of bipartisan legislation aimed at repairing the ACA, and I’ll continue to condemn any attempts to repeal the law and pull the rug out from under American families.

In July 2017, I laid out my plan to quell uncertainty and drive costs down. As part of this plan, I urged Congress to commit Cost-Sharing Reduction Subsidies (CSRs) to long-term funding, which will reduce out-of-pocket health care costs for hardworking American families. Additionally, Congress should act to protect insurers against the costliest medical claims, and create incentives to bring healthy people into the insurance pool. In health insurance markets, certainty is what drives costs down, and the Trump administration’s decisions to repeal the individual mandate and stop defending the ACA in court contribute to the type of uncertainty that will cause premiums and deductibles to rise.

I was not a member of Congress when it passed the ACA, but since then, I have voted to keep the promise that if you like your plan, you can keep it. I also voted to make sure individuals and families are given the same extension on enrollment that President Trump gave to businesses. During the 116th Congress, cosponsored the Protect Medical Innovation Act, a bipartisan bill to repeal the medical device excise tax in the ACA. Here in San Diego, we are acutely aware of the potential for this tax to stifle innovation in our biotech industry, which plays such a central role in our economy. In each case, that’s meant voting against my own party to make sure that we end up with the best system possible for both individuals and employers. I personally have refused to take taxpayer-subsidized health care because I believe it’s wrong for members of Congress to get subsidized health care while others are struggling to afford it.

While there is still work to do to fix the ACA, the law offers real benefits to San Diegans. For example, it prevents insurance companies from denying coverage because of a pre-existing condition. It also lets adult children stay on their parent’s health care plan until they’re 26 – a change that helps families with kids in college or who are starting their first job. These are the kinds of improvements that we would lose if we heeded the misguided calls to “repeal Obamacare.” And we can’t go back to the days when too many people got their health care in the emergency room and went bankrupt trying to pay for medical bills.

Unbelievably, some in Congress still want to battle over reproductive choice and access to contraception. Those wars were fought and won decades ago, and it is embarrassing and shameful that they continue to be debated. I’m proud of my 100% rating from the Planned Parenthood Action Fund, and I strongly favor reproductive freedom and a woman’s right to make her own medical decisions in consultation with her doctor. My wife and I have a long history of supporting Planned Parenthood, and I will always stand up for the right of women to make their own health care decisions.  In Congress, I am a forceful advocate for women’s access to reproductive healthcare and a woman’s right to choose, and I will continue as long as these battles persist.

You can read more about my record on Equal Rights issues here.

San Diego’s technology industry is leading the way in creating more cost-effective ways to deliver high-quality health care. I introduced the Health Savings Through Technology Act to integrate digital health into Medicare, Medicaid, the VA, and military care while increasing the use of wireless health information technologies. By taking advantage of the innovation coming out of San Diego, we can make health care cheaper to provide. In 2018, the San Diego-based Scripps Research Institute landed a deal with a major pharmaceutical company for its improved immune therapy use for treating cancer. These partnerships have the potential to bolster San Diego’s economy and improve the lives of millions of people around the world. We need more policies that encourage such innovation.

I’ve voted to increase research that accelerates the development of clinical trials to treat pediatric diseases, and for funding for programs that address the physician shortage. I’ve supported legislation to make our prescription drug system safer for consumers, and to protect the National Institutes of Health from dangerous budget cuts through sequestration. I’ve also helped passed a bill to incentivize the use of non-opioid painkillers for pain management where opioids might otherwise be prescribed.

Community health centers also play a critical role in San Diego by providing quality medical and mental health care to millions of San Diegans every year. In the FY20 appropriations, I supported the highest level of funding to improve access to comprehensive and evidence-based mental health and addiction care, securing the requested funding level of $150,000,000 for the Certified Community Behavioral Health Clinics Expansion Grants.

I will continue to be an active and strong advocate for health care reform – for patients, for hospitals, and for medical professionals. I know how important reliable and affordable health care is, and the frustration of dealing with a system full of irrationalities and skewed economic incentives. Everyone is eager for more ways to improve our health care system, and I will continue to work to make sure doctors, patients, and health care institutions all have a say in how we move forward. That’s always been my approach, and that’s the approach I’ll continue to take as your representative in Congress.

Drug shortages under normal circumstances result in significant strain throughout our healthcare system—from patients to hospitals and physicians. The health emergency presented by COVID-19 has exacerbated these problems and caused adverse reactions on global drug supply chains. In the 116th Congress, I introduced the bipartisan Preventing Drug Shortages Act, which would help address the critical issue of drug shortages that affect the quality of care patients receive across the country. The bill became law as part of the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act, which marked the third congressional package providing relief for the COVID-19 pandemic.

During this unprecedented pandemic, the last thing Americans should have to worry about is losing access to affordable and reliable health care. I introduced legislation to help mitigate the drastic health care premium increases caused by the unanticipated surge in medical care costs due to the pandemic. The Stop Health Premium Spikes Act became law as part of the Health and Economic Recovery Omnibus Emergency Solutions (Heroes) Act in May 2020.

We need immigration policies that are tough, fair, and practical. We have to be tough on border security to prevent people from trying to smuggle guns, drugs, or people, and we can make our border more secure with better technology. We need an immigration policy that is both fair to taxpayers and to immigrants who come to America seeking a better life. And it needs to be comprehensive to provide for our workforce needs, to protect asylum seekers fleeing for their safety, to keep families together, and to keep Dreamers in the only home they’ve ever known. In 2013, the Senate passed a package of comprehensive reforms that, while not perfect, went a long way towards making progress on all of these fronts. We need comprehensive immigration reform, but obstruction from Republican lawmakers has prevented us from making real progress on this issue.

I will always support a pathway to citizenship for DREAMers and other undocumented immigrants. In 2021, I voted to pass the American Dream and Promise Act to provide legal protections for millions of DACA and TPS recipients who live, work, go to school and serve here. I also helped pass the Farm Workforce Modernization Act to provide a citizenship path to essential farmworkers and reform our farm labor sector to strengthen the future of agriculture.

We must also continue to improve border security and streamline the border crossings that facilitate billions of dollars in cross-border commerce. I worked with other members of San Diego’s Congressional delegation — both Democrats and Republicans — to secure $741 million in funding for the border crossing between San Diego and Tijuana that regional business leaders called San Diego’s top priority for job creation. And in 2018, we unveiled the PedEast facility at the San Ysidro Port of Entry, which will increase inspection capacity for the tens of thousands of pedestrians who travel across the U.S-Mexico border each day. The entire delegation of San Diego-area members of Congress worked on a bipartisan basis to secure funding for the facility, which will strengthen border security and create thousands of jobs by improving the flow of trade and commerce. Read more of my thoughts on how we can further improve cross border travel, in this piece by the San Diego Union Tribune.

As we continue to work towards an immigration policy that makes us safer and more prosperous, we must not give in to the fearmongering and anti-immigrant rhetoric that came out of the Trump administration and continues to come from Republican members of Congress. I lead the fight to stand up against President Trump’s wasteful border wall and to protect our Dreamers. When President Trump implemented his travel ban, I led 70 of my colleagues in demanding a full accounting of the ill-conceived policy’s development. Furthermore, I vigorously condemned the administration’s racist and immoral family separation policy. Ripping away children from the arms of their mothers, who came to America seeking refuge from violence and oppression, is about as un-American as it gets.

Immigration affects our entire region, and it’s imperative that we see our border with Mexico as an opportunity, not a threat. I believe it will take a whole-of-government approach to fix our broken immigration system and keep America’s promise to provide a safe place to those who work hard and abide by the rules.

I have always been a champion of full equality for everyone, including full marriage equality. In 2008, I joined an amicus brief in opposition to California’s anti-equality Proposition 8, and served for years on the board of San Diego’s LGBT Community Center. In 2015, I celebrated the Supreme Court’s decision to make marriage equality the law of the land. In recent years, we’ve made great strides as a nation towards full equality, but there’s still a great deal of work to be done.

It’s still legal in 28 states to fire someone because of their sexual orientation, and in 29 states it’s legal to fire someone because they are transgender. This is completely unacceptable, and that’s why I helped pass the Equality Act, which would extend the non-discrimination protections we enjoy in California to the rest of the country.

We also must insist on our schools being safe spaces for every student. I’ve supported several measures to protect students from bullying at school and am an original cosponsor of the Student Non-Discrimination Act, which would establish a comprehensive federal prohibition of discrimination in public schools based on actual or perceived sexual orientation or gender identity.

During the Trump administration, I was a vocal advocate against the ban on transgender Americans serving in the U.S. military and will always fight against any such discriminatory laws or practices.

Social Security and Medicare are contracts between the government and generations of Americans that we must not break. Men and women who have spent a lifetime working hard, providing for their families, and saving for retirement deserve the security of knowing that the benefits they’ve earned will be there for them.

We’ve begun to get on track toward a balanced budget, including achieving the Senate’s first budget in three years after I helped pass the No Budget No Pay measure – a promise made during my first campaign for Congress, and a promise kept.

But we’ve also seen the risks that come with poorly designed and sometimes reckless cuts. Simply put – we can’t let Washington balance the budget on the backs of seniors and the middle class. We must protect both Medicare and Social Security. Period. These are rights seniors have earned after a lifetime of hard work and paying into the system.

While on the San Diego City Council, I set in motion a plan that reduced the overall cost of the pension program while preserving the benefits already paid for by city employees. The culture of working together directly has saved the city hundreds of millions of dollars, despite opposition from a few extremists. Protecting and strengthening programs like Social Security and Medicare will require a similar approach.

PROTECT SOCIAL SECURITY:  I believe Social Security should be a guarantee for retirement, not a question mark. I will continue to fight any risky scheme to privatize Social Security and expose it to stock market ups and downs, threatening seniors’ retirement plans.

PRESERVE MEDICARE:  Medicare is what keeps many seniors from a retirement of poverty. I oppose efforts to cut Medicare and reduce it to a private voucher system that will only create a spike in out-of-pocket healthcare costs for seniors. We can reduce fraud and waste and find ways to reduce prescription drug costs, helping to reduce the overall costs of Medicare.

These are the responsible ways to strengthen and protect both Social Security and Medicare, keep them sustainable for future generations, and prevent cutting benefits for people who have earned them and are counting on them.

And we’ve seen the alternatives. Without a good-faith process, we risk ending up with deeply flawed programs or litigation to solve problems that could have been solved the right way the first time by setting aside our ideological blinders and having honest, straightforward dialogue.

San Diego has one of the largest populations of veterans in the nation — approximately 240,000. And every year, 15,000 more servicemembers leave the armed forces right here in San Diego. When these Americans volunteered to serve our country, we made a commitment to help care for and support them after their service. This commitment must be honored. As a former member of the Committee on Veterans’ Affairs, I will always work across the aisle to achieve the best possible outcomes for veterans and their families. I will continue to work tirelessly to preserve our existing veterans programs, and to improve and expand their reach to help our returning veterans adjust back to civilian life.

San Diego has a strong veterans community prepared to offer services, but many veterans struggle to get connected to the help they need. I helped launch an organization called zero8hundred that works with service organizations and the military to get our veterans the services and support they need to make a successful transition to civilian life. In Congress, I’ve worked to pass legislation that supports public-private partnerships like zero8hundred and that bring together military leaders and veterans organizations.

It’s immoral and unpatriotic that some veterans have to wait months for health care. In 2013, when partisan gridlock held up the VA Access, Accountability, and Choice Act, I offered a motion that was credited with breaking the gridlock and getting the bill passed. This bill makes it easier for the VA to fire bad employees, extends in-state tuition for veterans and their families, and allows veterans facing long wait times or who live far from a VA facility to receive private health care paid for by the VA. I also introduced the 21st Century Care for Military & Veterans Act to make health care more accessible to rural veterans by improving available services and reducing overall costs. And during this session of Congress, I introduced and passed a bill to drive down health care prices for veterans further by increasing transparency and competition within the VA health care system. As we move forward, we must continue to make physical and mental health care more affordable and accessible with better use of telehealth, accountability, and additional funding for the VA.

I have led the charge to improve access to mental health services for active duty soldiers and for veterans once they return home. I introduced a bill that would allow the VA to hire more marriage and family therapists to serve veterans. A similar provision was included and passed as part of the Military Construction and Veterans Affairs Appropriations Act. I also helped introduce and pass a bill to ensure that veterans who cannot participate in group therapy because they took part in classified missions get the individual care they need. Coronado’s Dr. Howard and Jean Somers, who tragically lost their son to suicide after he left the military, brought this idea to me and I worked to make it law. I’ve also worked to pass two other bills named in honor of their son, Daniel Somers. The Sgt. Daniel Somers Network of Support Act became law at the end of 2019 and establishes a Network of Support so servicemembers’ family and friends can prevent isolation and suicide. Similarly, the Sergeant Daniel Somers Veterans Network of Support Act directs the VA to create a network of support that shares information with designated family and friends of veterans to guide and empower them as they help their loved ones navigate life after service. This bill was included in the COMPACT Act and was signed into law in December of 2020.

In 2021, I introduced the Veteran Peer Specialist Act, which builds upon my previous work in 2018 to expand peer counseling services for veterans within the VA. My office has helped recover more than $1.6 million in earned benefits for our veterans and their families, giving them better access to health care, counseling, and job training.

I have voted to increase military pensions, cosponsored the Veterans Pension Protection Act, and continue to oppose privatizing veterans’ benefits. In the 115th Congress, I introduced and passed legislation that was included in the Veterans Benefits and Transition Act of 2018, to provide education and job training benefits to guardsmen and reservists. We made a promise that these benefits would always be there to assist those who served our country. Since being elected, my staff and I have focused on providing the highest level of service to veterans who are having difficulty navigating the federal bureaucracy. As a result, more than $1.6 million in benefits owed to them have been restored to San Diego veterans since I first took office.

The unemployment rate for our veterans has recently fallen, but the unemployment rate specifically for Afghanistan and Iraq veterans aged 18 to 24 is high in San Diego, and above the rate for non-veterans. In the 114th Congress, I offered and passed an amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act that encourages the Department of Defense to prioritize the hiring of veterans for military construction projects like those I’ve secured funding for at Coronado and Miramar. I introduced the Veterans Employment Transition (VETs) Act to provide incentives to businesses for hiring recently discharged veterans, and voted for improved on-the-job and apprenticeship programs through the VA. I will continue to support programs that provide job training and help our service men and women re-enter their lives as husbands, fathers, mothers, and wives.

I support the GI Bill because it rewards young people who are eager to earn a college education after serving their country. In 2018, I introduced and passed legislation to make sure all Purple Heart recipients receive their full GI Bill education benefits – regardless of active duty length. I voted to ensure veterans have access to in-state tuition rates, and for the Veterans Education Equity Act to make sure veterans get the same benefits whether they attend public or private institutions. In 2018, I introduced and helped pass a bill to provide guardsmen and reservists the same educational and employment benefits, regardless of whether their service was voluntary or involuntary.

Our veterans need to know their Congressional representative will stand up, fight, and preserve these programs and benefits. When I arrived in Congress, it was clear that we had allowed far too many veterans in need to fall through the cracks. Our system isn’t perfect yet, but I’ve worked across the aisle to move forward with commonsense solutions, and we’ve begun to address the gaps and improve services. During the Trump administration, I offered and helped pass an amendment to prevent any decreases in funding for veteran homelessness programs. In the 116th Congress, I introduced the Veteran HOUSE Act, which expands eligibility for veterans with other-than-honorable discharges to participate in the HUD-VASH voucher program. This legislation became law as part of the annual defense bill at the beginning of 2021. With continued cooperation, we can make sure that we’re ready with the services our veterans need and deserve as they return home.

I am committed to ensuring the VA has the resources and support it needs to provide the best possible level of service. I consistently opposed attempts by the Trump administration to privatize the VA. We need a culture at the VA from the top to the bottom that is focused on serving veterans, not the bureaucracy. But forcing veterans into a for-profit health care system is not the answer. To strengthen the VA, I helped pass legislation to reform the veterans’ appeals process and repair the claims backlog. I’ve also supported legislation that removes barriers to firing poorly performing VA employees.