Nearly a year after Congress passed new ethics rules, two San Diego Congressmen are fighting for an occasional free beer. They are members of the Congressional Small Brewers Caucus . Matt Laslo reports from Washington.
Craft beers like this one are not just good tasting, but have become an important player in local economies. Nationally sales are up 30 percent in the past three years.
Imperial Beach Republican Brian Bilbray is a member of the Small Brewers Caucus. He says San Diego's microbreweries are more than just places to go for a great beer.
Bilbray : It’s one of those local community businesses, it’s one that is almost becoming the cultural icons. So it is sort of a landmark in the community and part of the economic background and really becoming part of the social fiber.
Vista Republican Darrel Issa is also on the caucus. He says the varied tastes and the intricate designs of craft beers make them stand out from mass produced ones.
Issa : But lets also remember there is quality of life. As we try to get to where there is one of everything and its mass produced -- well this is a return to quality of life.
And that is what the Small Brewers Caucus is devoted to: promoting local breweries that are tickling beer drinker’s palates. Part of the way they did that last year was to have an open door event on Capitol Hill. The beer was donated from small breweries across the U.S.
But the caucus hit a snag.
Peter Defazio : Oh we’ve run afoul of the new ethics rules.
That's the chairman of the thirty five member caucus: Oregon Democratic Congressman Peter Defazio. Under the new ethics rules members are no longer allowed to receive gifts, or to taste things, like beers, that look like gifts.
Defazio is currently working with the ethics committee to fix the problem, so that caucus can have another event. Bilbray says this prohibition shows the ethics reform passed last year was hastily done and too broad.
Defazio : But I think that these are the kinds of things that nobody meant to obstruct.
Issa says he is also frustrated by the new rules.
Issa : None of us can figure out how to make the rather strange ethics rules work, and it's a shame because the American people wanted us to do some real ethics reform, and instead we made up some very convoluted rules.
When it comes to laws that Congress passes for itself, there are always loopholes. The ethics reform did include an educational clause, which may allow the members to get their frosty mugs in exchange for a lecture or slide show. There is also the event clause, which means members would need to round up twenty five people who don't work on Capitol Hill in order to get free beers. Which may not be the hardest thing for the caucus to do.
“You look thirsty.”
“I am”
“We've got a light ale, a gold ale and a brown ale. And if you'd like to try ‘em all I got plenty of cups.”
Alan Baldwin pours beers for the Maryland based Hook and Ladder.
Baldwin : I'd like the light please." "Its one of the only light ales in the country right now." Well that's quite good
Hook and Ladder President Matt Fleischer says donating beer is part of the company's advertising, but he says there should be a limit even for lawmakers.
Fleischer : I'm okay with a little free beer every here and there just to wet the palate, but for the most part everybody needs to pay for the quality beverages we produce.
He says all he wants from Congress is fewer rules. That is the reason most Congress members joined the Small Brewers Caucus: they want to keep government regulations away from the industry. And now the members are disappointed they got entangled in their own ethics law.
But Congressman Bilbray, a home brewer himself, has a possible answer.
Bilbray : Maybe what we gotta do is a lot of us just gotta start brewing our own, and then we can meet and talk about our own beers. After all why do they make five gallon water bottles unless it is to brew beer.
Some of the others caucus members brew their own beers as well, but it will be hard to get them to just give away those hand-crafted beers. So in the meantime they're stuck in prohibition.
From Capitol News Connection in Washington, I'm Matt Laslo for KPBS News.
