The zinc pennies are coated with pure copper. And copper is also highly reactive. Copper is absolutely not made to last - it is only more traditional than other choices.
If Congress is going to actually consider coinage requests, then I'd rather ask them to make it out of sulver.
Yep, in 1998 to commemorate the 90th anniversary of the Canadian mint, and in 2002 for Elizabeth II 50th year of reign. There may be others after that.
Steel would rust over time. Making them out of gold would be better. just have to make sure the size of the Cent, is of the size that it only contains up to 1 cent of gold at any given time during production.