Saturday, July 7, 2012

All American flags are to be made in US


 

All American flags to be made in US

Some lawmakers picked Independence Day eve to call on the House to pass a bill that would require the government to purchase flags made in the U.S.A.

The Senate-approved All-American Flag Act was introduced in response to the $3.6 million in imports of U.S. flags, mostly from China, The Los Angeles Times reports. The bill would require the federal government to purchase only flags made entirely from domestic content.

"We should do all we can to support American manufacturing and job creation, especially when it comes to our most treasured of patriotic symbols — the American flag," said Sen. Sherrod Brown, a Democrat whose state of Ohio is home to U.S. flag makers and who is one of the bill’s sponsors.

The bill called "All American Flag Act" was introduced and approved in the Senate last year in July in response to the whooping $3.6 million worth of imports of U.S. flags mostly from China. The Census Bureau cited at the time that of the $3.6 million, $3.3 million had gone to China.

It was not immediately clear why the bill has yet to come up for a vote in the House, which approved the measure in 2010. That bill never came before the Senate before the session ended.

Rep. Bruce Braley (D-Iowa), the House’s bill’s chief sponsor, said in a statement, "It's time for the House to act."

Currently, federal law requires that U.S. flags purchased by the federal government contain a minimum of 50% American-made materials. The legislation would require federal agencies to purchase only flags made entirely in the U.S. "from articles, materials, or supplies 100% of which are grown, produced, or manufactured in the United States."

"In a time when we face economic hardship, it is critical to invest in the manufacturing base," Brown said during Senate consideration of his bill last year. "There is no product that deserves a U.S.A. label more than American flags."

"In a time when we face economic hardship, it is critical to invest in the manufacturing base," Brown said during the Senate debate on his bill. "There is no product that deserves a U.S.A. label more than American flags."

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