WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, the House Select Committee on the Climate Crisis unveiled a congressional climate action framework, highlighting three bills introduced by Rep. Scott Peters (CA-52) as integral tools in the effort to adequately address the climate crisis.

The Select Committee’s plan would put the country on a path to net-zero carbon pollution by 2050, if not earlier. It would power economic recovery through clean energy investment and family-sustaining jobs, and address the legacy of environmental injustice harming America’s low-income communities and communities of color.

“The climate crisis requires urgent, comprehensive action. We cannot wait to get to where we need to be without major policy change,” said Rep. Peters. “The Select Committee report published today provides Congress with a pragmatic and substantive agenda that we must act on swiftly, including the bipartisan bills I introduced last year, to protect our environment and public health.”

The three bills introduced by Rep. Peters incorporated in the House Select Committee on the Climate Crisis are:

• H.R. 4143, the Super Pollutants Act: A bipartisan bill introduced with Rep. Matt Gaetz (FL-01) that would help reduce short-lived climate pollutants, including black carbon.
• H.R. 855, the STRONG (Strengthening The Resiliency of Our Nation on the Ground) Act: A bipartisan bill introduced with Rep. Elise Stefanik (NY-21) that would help communities better prepare for, withstand, and recover from natural disasters by aggregating best practices from local, state and federal agencies to develop resiliency strategies on disaster readiness and response, encouraging the expansion of federal planning and coordination for climate adaption.
• H.R. 4307, the Build More Housing Near Transit Act: A bipartisan bill introduced with Reps. Cathy McMorris Rodgers (WA-05), Mike Gallagher (WI-08) and others, that would help facilitate the construction of more housing near public transit, effectively helping slow the rate of climate change by improving the competitiveness of transit versus automobiles. Research has shown that building housing near transit lines has huge potential to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

Find the full Select Committee report, here. 

Since coming to Congress, Rep. Peters has championed immediate action on climate change. Rep. Peters created the Climate Playbook to demonstrate what work Congress has already done to combat climate change in a variety of sectors, voted with the House to pass his bipartisan disaster aid transparency bill, and introduced several other bipartisan climate bills not included in the Select Committee report like the USE IT Act and the Renewable Electricity Tax Credit Equalization Act. Rep. Peters delivered a Clean Energy Week address at the National Press Club, wrote an op-ed with UCSD Scripps Institution of Oceanography Director Dr. Margaret Leinen, and addressed the Vatican at a climate conference convened by Pope Francis. He is a senior member of the House subcommittees on energy and on environment and climate.

Before his election to Congress in 2012, Rep. Peters worked as an environmental attorney and as an economist at the Environmental Protection Agency.