Los Angeles Times
August 27, 2001

Money, said the late Jesse Unruh, is the mother's milk of politics, but coffee has to run a strong second, and the coffee served in Congress is making a stir.

Concord Democrat George Miller -- seen here quaffing whatever brand the White House serves -- is getting after his fellow members of Congress and the House's official coffee purveyor to clean up coffee's act.

Three hundred pounds of Starbucks coffee are served up each week in the House alone, and that doesn't include the brew the same company pours for the Supreme Court and other public institutions along the Crabcake Coast.

Miller is collecting his colleagues' signatures to insist that the only Starbucks coffee being poured on the Hill is "fair trade certified" coffee. Starbucks, the king of caffeine chains, already sells "fair trade" coffee in its shops.

Here are the strong grounds Miller put forward for drinking only the fair trade bean:

Fair trade farmers, who don't have to pay middlemen, earn up to four times more than farmers who do. Much "fair trade" coffee is grown in the shade, meaning less land has to be clear-cut to grow coffee. And fair trade growers get an even higher price if they grow organic beans.

California members who have signed on to the fair-trade-only petition: Barbara Lee, Pete Stark, Nancy Pelosi, Lynn Woolsey, Hilda Solis, Mike Honda, Sam Farr, Bob Vilner and Gary Condit.

Pouring fair trade brew, says Miller, would "send an important message that global trade can deliver quality goods and services without the exploitation of workers, their children and the environment."

If Miller gets his way, watch for the new House brand, "Beans of Hill."