Should American Flags be American Made?

Braley bill requires feds to buy American flags made in U.S.

By ED TIBBETTS, Courier Lee News Service

WATERLOO --- If the federal government is going to buy a United States flag, shouldn't it be made here in America? U.S. Rep. Bruce Braley thinks so. The Democrat from Waterloo, plans to introduce a bill on Wednesday, just a few days before Flag Day, to require the federal government to buy Old Glory only from domestic manufacturers. "We want to send a clear message that this is a preference we'd like to keep for U.S. companies," Braley said Friday. Already, the government has to buy half its flags from domestic firms. Braley wants to go the rest of the way. The measure, called the "All-American Flag Act," would take effect six months after approval.

The congressman's office said it wasn't able to find out how much of the federal government's flag business goes overseas. Foreign firms have only a slice of the total market, though. The Census Bureau says $4.7 million worth of American flags were purchased from foreign companies in 2007, most of them in China. About $350 million worth of American-made flags were distributed, according to a 2002 Census report. Braley says he got inspiration for the bill from state Rep. Ray Zirkelbach, a Waterloo Democrat and Iraq War veteran, who proposed a bill in this year's Iowa legislative session to prohibit non- American-made flags from being sold in Iowa. The bill passed the House but got no further.

The move to limit foreign-made U.S. flags is growing in state capitols. In recent years, bills were introduced in legislatures in Missouri, Oklahoma, Colorado and Wisconsin, according to Stateline.org, a news service. Backers say it's important that such a national symbol be made in the United States, and some retailers say their customers probably wouldn't even realize the U.S. flag is made overseas. Patricia Jahn, corporate secretary at the family-owned Regalia Manufacturing Co., Rock Island, said it's "just plain stupid" that American flags aren't all made here. "The majority of people who come here are patriotic, and they want to buy American-made," she said. Regalia no longer makes U.S. flags, but it sells them. Jahn said it buys all its U.S. flags from a Batavia, Ill., flag maker. "Anybody that buys foreign is cutting their own throat," she added.

Critics of the move toward such domestic content legislation say it's an example of a growing anti-trade sentiment in the U.S. And, in a debate last year over a similar bill in Minnesota, a legislator said foreign production of the flags should be encouraged to promote the U.S.'s message of "hope for freedom and justice." A trade expert also said Friday the bill could be a violation of a World Trade Organization agreement aimed at opening up government purchases to international competition. Peter Morici, former chief economist for the U.S. International Trade Commission, said a ban could draw unwelcome attention from trading partners when there might not be even be an issue. "You turn an implicit policy into an explicit policy and put a bull's-eye on your back," he said.

Braley's office said there are other laws that demand at least some federal procurement from only U.S. firms, and the bill's scope was specifically limited to avoid trade problems. Braley added bills like his show support for veterans and, with jobs being increasingly outsourced, it backs American companies, too. "We're excited about having the bill introduced the same week as Flag Day," he said.

Contact Ed Tibbetts at (563) 383-2327 or etibbetts@qctimes.com.