It’s a symbolic gesture we support.
A bill has been introduced in the in New York state assembly that would require all American flags sold in the Empire State to “be made entirely in the United States, with 100 percent American materials and using only U.S. based labor.” The legislation was authored by Assemblyman Angelo Santabarbara, and it’s called – yes, you guessed it – the New York State All-American Flag Act.
What else would you call it?
Santabarbara’s office says that $3.6 million worth of American flags are imported each year, the majority of them coming from China. And in the grand scheme of things, his bill wouldn’t change much – we’re talking about a state economy with a GDP of roughly $1.5 trillion – but it’s symbolic nonetheless. United Steelworkers President Tom Conway saw the bill and wrote:
Those Chinese-made flags that Assemblyman Santabarbara wants to ban in New York are just the tip of the iceberg. America’s goods and services trade deficit with China has grown to more than $400 billion a year. That’s resulted in the loss of 3.4 million U.S. jobs, the vast majority of them in manufacturing.
Anyway, New York is no stranger to these kinds of Buy America bills. You’ll recall that just a few weeks ago Governor Andrew Cuomo …
… made a Labor Day promise to make the New York Buy American Act permanent. That act requires all state-funded road and bridge projects worth more than $1 million to use any necessary iron and steel from the United States.
We’ll be watching the governor’s progress on that promise.
In the meantime, if you’re looking for an American-made American flag you can find one here. Or here. Or here!