Populist Caucus Chair Braley Re-Introduces All-American Flag Act

Press Release

Today, Congressman Bruce Braley (IA-01), Chairman of the Populist Caucus, re-introduced a bill to ensure the federal government purchases U.S. flags made from 100 percent American-made materials. Populist Caucus Vice-Chairs Donna Edwards (MD-04), Rosa DeLauro (CT-03), Peter DeFazio (OR-04) and Betty Sutton (OH-13) co-sponsored the legislation. Rep. Braley previously introduced the All-American Flag Act in the 110th Congress and the bill was passed out of the House in the 111th Congress.

"American flags should be made in America using American products, period," said Rep. Braley. "A lot of people in Congress pay lip service to the American worker and the quality of goods they produce, but we see little action to back it up. Instead, hundreds of thousands of American jobs are being shipped overseas. It's long past due that we put our money where our mouth is and stand up for American goods. And there's no greater symbol for that than the American flag and all it represents."

Currently, the government is required to purchase flags made only of 50 percent American-made materials. The All-American Flag Act would fix this by requiring federal government agencies to purchase only flags that contain 100 percent American-made materials.

According to the U.S. Department of Commerce and U.S. Census Data, in 2009 the dollar value of flags imported to the United States was $3 million. Of that amount, $2.5 million of imported flags came from China.

Source