Brown touts bill for fully Us-made American flags

One of Ohio’s two senators wants the federal government to buy American flags with the same criteria he has in buying the suits he wears to work.

Sen. Sherrod Brown is sponsoring a bill that would require the federal government to buy flags made in America with 100% American materials.

The government now is required only to buy flags made from at least 50% American materials, according to Brown’s office.

“American tax dollars should go to Americanmade products that support American jobs, especially when the product is a symbol of our nation,” Brown said. “We need to produce the symbol of our country in a way that supports American jobs and American manufacturers.”

Brown, a Democrat from the Cleveland area, has often told a story about how he buys his suits from a place that employs union workers and is “seven miles” from his house. Like flags, it has become difficult to find fully Americanmade suits “because we’ve had a stupid trade policy,” Brown said.

The flag proposal is just one bill that Brown has in the works to require the federal government to “buy American.” He said he’s also working with Ohio Sen. Rob Portman, a Republican, on a bill to require the government to buy only American supplies for infrastructure projects funded by taxpayer dollars.

“We’ve lost too many jobs in this country because of bad trade agreements,” Brown said. “This is one we can fix. … it’s really just the principle of the thing.”

Brown’s flag act was approved by the Senate in 2011 and 2014 but stalled in the House of Representatives, which at the time was controlled by Republicans. This year, the House, now led by Democrats, has passed the bill, and it’s up to the Senate to act.