A bipartisan bill that would require the U.S. government to buy American flags that are made in the U.S. would have little effect on federal spending, according to a new report.
The Congressional Budget Office, a nonpartisan federal agency that produces hundreds of cost estimates for proposed legislation each year, reported the cost of implementing the All-American Flag Act would be “insignificant.”
“Using information from the General Services Administration and flag vendors, CBO expects that many vendors already meet the bill’s requirements,” according to the agency’s analysis. “CBO estimates that the costs of implementing S. 1973 would be insignificant.”
The measure, Senate Bill 1973, would require that all U.S. flags acquired by the federal government be manufactured in the United States from materials grown, produced, or manufactured domestically.
U.S. Sens. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, Susan Collins, R-Maine, Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., and Gary Peters, D-Mich., introduced the bill in June.
“American flags should be made in America, period,” Brown said in a statement when he introduced the bill. “Today, half of the materials that our women and men in uniform fight under can be made in China.”
Brown first introduced the legislation in 2011.
Many U.S. flags are made in China.
