Fly American!

No this is not some diatribe about American Airlines…..but rather a flag post.

It seems that the flag you fly in the front yard may not be American at all and the Congress wants to do something about that….

Soon, Old Glory will have to be born in the land of the free and not merely flying over it. Congress has passed a proposal to require the federal government to purchase only American flags that have been completely manufactured in the US. The US imports millions of American flags from overseas, mostly from China, and the sponsors of the proposal said it’s time for American flags to originate in the country they represent, the AP reports.

  • Supporters of the proposal, led by Republican Sen. Susan Collins of Maine and Democratic Sen. Sherrod Brown of Ohio, said the change is more than just symbolic—they believe it will support American jobs and manufacturers while preserving the nation’s most recognized banner.
  • The American flag serves as a symbol of our identity, resolve, and values as one people. To honor its significance, the federal government should only use flags entirely manufactured in the United States,” Collins said.
  • Supporters of the proposal said Monday that they expect the measure to be signed into law soon. It was sent to President Biden on Thursday.
  • Federal rules currently require the government to buy flags that contain half US-made materials, supporters of the proposal said. The rule change, called the All-American Flag Act, requires government-purchased flags to be produced entirely with American-made materials as well as manufactured in the US.
  • The value of US flag imports in 2015 was well over $4 million, according to federal data. The vast majority of those imports came from China, supporters of the rule change said. In 2017, the US imported some 10 million American flags, and 99.5% of them came from China, supporters of the proposal said. Those figures include all American flags imported into the country and not just those purchased by the federal government.
  • Collins and Brown have been pushing for American flags to be manufactured in the US for several years. Previous efforts to change the rules to require US-made flags found success in the Senate but stalled when they reached the House of Representatives. The bill finally passed in the House last week.

How gracious of them to do this for the country.

But I believe there are many more problems that need attention….hunger, prices, housing pop in mind….but they do something this lame that could probably be done with an Executive Order.

So if you are flying an American flag made in China can you claim to be all that patriotic?

This effort is a waste of energy and time….but that is what Congress does best.

Anything?

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

11 thoughts on “Fly American!

  1. Just another example of our do-nothing Congress. All of these ‘super patriot’ bills are nothing but Congress pretending to be doing something important when it’s really just sitting around doing nothing. It’s very good at ginning up fake controversies to cover up their innaction.

  2. Howdy Chuq!

    Given that making a profit by creating and selling a product like a flag is going to be difficult, I suppose potential manufacturers will be getting corporate welfare to make it worth their while. Just another wealth transfer wrapped up in the false goods of patriotism.

    Huzzah!
    Jack

    1. Sheesh, I never thought of the corporate welfare angle. No US company is going to make the things unless they can make a healthy profit off it so banning the sales of product made overseas is going to mean prices are going to be going up in yet another round of government induced inflation and we might even see taxpayer money being funneled to them.

      There’s way too much of this kind of crap going on.

      1. Here’s the other “funny” thing. Sharrod Brown really has no choice but to sponsor a bill like this to bolster his bone fides in the eyes of his more conservative constituents.

        I can’t see the manufacture of American flags in the States without some kind of government support or encouragement just like we do for chip manufacturing and automobiles and steel and other industries.

        Jack

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