Beer Institute Praises Majority of Senate for Supporting Excise Tax Relief for America’s Brewers and Beer Importers

WASHINGTON, D.C. – With Sen. Mazie Hirono (D-HI) adding her name as a cosponsor, the Beer Institute today lauded the 51 U.S. Senators for cosponsoring the Craft Beverage Modernization and Tax Reform Act (S. 362), comprehensive legislation that provides fair and equitable reforms to the federal excise tax for brewers and beer importers of all sizes. The bill now has enough support to pass in the chamber if the legislation came to the Senate floor.

“I want to thank the 51 Democratic and Republican Senators from across the country who are standing with America’s beer industry and cosponsoring legislation that provides fair and broad tax relief and regulatory reforms to brewers of all sizes and beer importers,” said Jim McGreevy, President and CEO of the Beer Institute. “The beer industry supports millions of U.S. jobs and generates hundreds of billions of dollars to our nation’s economy. This commonsense legislation will provide a much-needed certainty so all brewers and beer importers can continue to innovate and invest in their companies to meet consumer demand for America’s most popular alcohol beverage – beer.”

Provisions in the Craft Beverage Modernization and Tax Reform Act were signed into law in December 2017, providing temporary federal excise tax relief to U.S. brewers and beer importers. As a result of the law, brewers and beer importers have resources to reinvest in their businesses, hire new employees and continue to innovate and create America’s favorite beers. However, this tax relief is scheduled to expire by 2020 unless Congress acts to extend the new excise tax rates or make them permanent.

Sens. Ron Wyden (D-OR) and Roy Blunt (R-MO) reintroduced the bipartisan Craft Beverage Modernization and Tax Reform Act in February to make the excise tax relief from 2017 permanent. The legislation would permanently:

• Reduce the federal excise tax to $3.50 per barrel on the first 60,000 barrels for domestic brewers producing fewer than 2 million barrels annually;
• Reduce the federal excise tax to $16 per barrel on the first 6 million barrels for all other brewers and all beer importers; and
• Keep the excise tax at the current $18 per barrel rate for barrelage over 6 million.

H.R. 1175, the House companion introduced by Rep. Ron Kind (D-WI) and Mike Kelly (R-PA), currently has 156 cosponsors.

The full list of Senate supporters follows:

• Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR)
• Sen. Roy Blunt (R-MO)
• Sen. Thomas Carper (D-DE)
• Sen. Pat Roberts (R-KS)
• Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D-MI)
• Sen. Jerry Moran (R-KS)
• Sen. Robert Casey, Jr. (D-PA)
• Sen. Rob Portman (R-OH)
• Sen. Michael Bennet (D-CO)
• Sen. Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV)
• Sen. Tammy Baldwin (D-WI)
• Sen. Cory Gardner (R-CO)
• Sen. Margaret Wood Hassan (D-NH)
• Sen. Dan Sullivan (R-AK)
• Sen. Jon Tester (D-MT)
• Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-OR)
• Sen. Joni Ernst (R-IA)
• Sen. Patty Murray (D-WA)
• Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-WA)
• Sen. Richard Durbin (D-IL)
• Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN)
• Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (D-AZ)
• Sen. Gary Peters (D-MI)
• Sen. John Barrasso (R-WY)
• Sen. Johnny Isakson (R-GA)
• Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto (D-NV)
• Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH)
• Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO)
• Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI)
• Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-VT)
• Sen. John Boozman (R-AR)
• Sen. Thom Tillis (R-NC)
• Sen. Martin Heinrich (D-NM)
• Sen. Steve Daines (R-MT)
• Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY)
• Sen. Kamala Harris (D-CA)
• Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ)
• Sen. Martha McSally (R-AZ)
• Sen. Tom Udall (D-NM)
• Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK)
• Sen. Robert Menendez (D-NJ)
• Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D-IL)
• Sen. Angus King, Jr. (I-ME)
• Sen. Roger Wicker (R-MS)
• Sen. Christopher Coons (D-DE)
• Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA)
• Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN)
• Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-LA)
• Sen. John Kennedy (R-LA)
• Sen. Todd Young (R-IN)
• Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT)
• Sen. Mazie Hirono (D-HI)

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The Beer Institute is a national trade association for the American brewing industry, representing brewers of all sizes, as well as beer importers and industry suppliers. First founded in 1862 as the U.S. Brewers Association, the Beer Institute is committed today to the development of sound public policy and to the values of civic duty and personal responsibility. For additional updates from the Beer Institute, visit our website, follow @BeerInstitute on Twitter, like the Beer Institute on Facebook, and follow the Beer Institute on Instagram.