Congress Unites over Beer!

Congress Unites over BEER Bill

John Kerry lifting a glass for victory

I don’t know if many American’s were aware of a major happening in the politics of our country? Congress came together to share in actually voting for something TOGETHER. The Bipartisan system saw Republicans voting the same as Democrats and Democrats voting the same as Republicans. I am happy to say the reason they came together to pass a bill was over small business breweries or as we usually say microbreweries. Yes they came together over BEER! It was a proposed bill to give the smaller breweries a tax break on their first 60,000 barrels produced. It is a drastic tax break of 50% from $7 a barrel to $3.50 a barrel. Also if production exceeds 60,000 barrels there is also a break on those barrels as well. The main 2 signers of the bill were Senator John Kerry of Mass and Senator Mike Crapo of Idaho. Both were joined by 17 cosigners from both sides of the bipartisan spectrum. The bill that passed’s acronym is BEER(properly named!) and stands for Brewer’s Employment and Excise Relief. The Bill besides lowering the taxes for smaller breweries also redefines what a smaller or microbrewery is by production. Before a microbrewer was held to 2 million barrels of production a year and now raises the bar to 6 million barrels a year.

 

This is great due to the higher demand of microbrew beer in the US and also helps the Microbrews compete with the large multinational beer brands in the American market. I am also proud that the split of the American political system was put on hold for 1 day so they can help smaller businesses like microbreweries by lowering their taxes.

“Make sure that the beer – four pints a week – goes to the troops under fire before any of the parties in the rear get a drop.”
-Winston Churchill