[Congressional Record Volume 156, Number 132 (Tuesday, September 28, 2010)]
[House]
[Pages H7027-H7029]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
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ALL-AMERICAN FLAG ACT
Mr. DRIEHAUS. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the
bill (H.R. 2853) to require the purchase of domestically made flags of
the United States of America for use by the Federal Government, as
amended.
The Clerk read the title of the bill.
The text of the bill is as follows:
H.R. 2853
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of
the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ``All-American Flag Act''.
SEC. 2. REQUIREMENT FOR PURCHASE OF DOMESTICALLY MADE UNITED
STATES FLAGS FOR USE BY FEDERAL GOVERNMENT.
Only such flags of the United States of America, regardless
of size, that are 100 percent manufactured in the United
States, from articles, materials, or supplies 100 percent of
which are grown, produced, or manufactured in the United
States, may be acquired for use by the Federal Government.
SEC. 3. REQUIREMENT TO USE WORKERS AUTHORIZED TO WORK IN THE
UNITED STATES.
In carrying out section 2, the Federal Government may
purchase flags only from a manufacturer that certifies that--
(1) the manufacturer does not employ aliens who are not
authorized to be employed in the United States; and
(2) the manufacturer participates in the E-Verify Program
under section 401 of the Illegal Immigration Reform and
Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996 (8 U.S.C. 1324a note).
SEC. 4. EFFECTIVE DATE.
Section 2 shall apply to purchases of flags made on or
after 180 days after the date of the enactment of this Act.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from
Ohio (Mr. Driehaus) and the gentleman from California (Mr. Bilbray)
each will control 20 minutes.
The Chair recognizes the gentleman from Ohio.
General Leave
Mr. DRIEHAUS. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members
may have 5 legislative days within which to revise and extend their
remarks.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the
gentleman from Ohio?
There was no objection.
Mr. DRIEHAUS. I yield myself such time as I may consume.
Mr. Speaker, H.R. 2853, the All-American Flag Act, ensures that the
flags purchased by the Federal Government will be made right here in
the United States, ensuring that tax dollars used for these purchases
will stay here in our economy.
H.R. 2853 was introduced by our colleague, the gentleman from Iowa,
Representative Bruce Braley, on June 12, 2009. It was referred to the
House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, which ordered the
measure reported by unanimous consent on July 28, 2010.
This bill requires that all flags of the United States of America, of
any size, purchased by the Federal Government be 100 percent
manufactured here in the United States. This also includes any
articles, materials, or supplies used to manufacture or produce those
flags. Those materials must all be produced here. This represents a
vast improvement over existing law, which only requires 50 percent of
these materials to be American made.
Mr. Speaker, H.R. 2853 ensures that the flag of this country, flown
by this country, will be made in this country.
I would like to thank my colleagues for their hard work on this bill,
and I encourage them to join me in supporting this commonsense
legislation.
I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. BILBRAY. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
I would like to thank the author of the bill and the committee
working on this. I think that we have been able to not only address the
issue of where flags are made and what material goes into those flags
but, because of the overwhelming bipartisan support for my amendment,
we are also going to make sure that those flags are made by legal
Americans. I think that is something that was overlooked. In fact, if I
remember right, the vote in committee was unanimous except for one
vote; let's say that. I think that bipartisan support for the fact that
we want flags flying over our Capitol that are made in America, with
American material and by Americans who are legally here, was a great
message to send. I think that is the kind of bipartisan support and
consensus that the American people have been asking about for a long
time.
I think that one of the things that we clarify here is that, with the
amendment that the majority accepted from me, we were able to point out
that there may be a lot of disagreements about the immigration issue, a
lot of differences about where jobs go, but if there is one place that
we can kind of meet together, the one thing that seems to be working, a
very moderate consensus builder, was the success of E-Verify. One place
the Bush administration and the Obama administration agrees on: The
expansion of E-Verify as being the minimum standard that we make sure
employers take, including those who are making the flags for our
country that are going to fly over this Capitol.
I think the only place that I can actually think about when it comes
to immigration that Arizona and Massachusetts agree on is that
employers should E-Verify, not just to make sure that those who are
here legally are working, but also to make sure that we do not prejudge
employees before. One of the great things is that E-Verify doesn't ask
the employer to make a determination based on just sheer observation is
somebody a U.S. citizen or a foreign national; it treats everybody
equally. I think that is one of the big successes here.
So I would just like to say, again, I think one of the big successes
of this bill is not just that the American people will know that the
flags that fly over our Capitol are made in America, with American
material and with legal Americans, but the fact is symbolic of the
success of the majority supporting my amendment, and that this bill
will actually show, too, that: America, we can agree on one thing on
immigration, and that is that E-Verify seems to be a success that all
of us can get around.
Mr. Speaker, I yield 1\1/2\ minutes to the gentlewoman from North
Carolina (Ms. Foxx).
Ms. FOXX. Mr. Speaker, I appreciate my colleague from California's
yielding the time.
We are requiring flags to be made in the United States because our
colleagues say they are concerned about jobs. Well, House Republicans
are also very much concerned about jobs in this country, and we have
been listening to the American people.
Unemployment near 10 percent is one of the chief concerns of the
people in this country, so they want to know why Democrats are allowing
both chambers to adjourn this week without stopping this massive $3.9
trillion tax increase that will hurt small businesses and kill more
jobs.
Our friends across the aisle can adjourn the House this week and walk
away from their responsibility to govern, or Speaker Pelosi could allow
full and open debate on tax increases before this House is adjourned.
We want an up-or-down vote now. We can't allow the American people and
small businesses to face this uncertainty.
We were elected to serve the people in our districts, not to put our
personal political gain ahead of our constituents' welfare. Certainly,
we want to make efforts to keep jobs in America, such as through bills
like this one, but especially by giving certainty to businesses.
Let's vote before we adjourn to extend tax cuts for all Americans. No
family and no job-creating small business owner should face a tax
increase on January 1.
Mr. DRIEHAUS. I yield myself such time as I may consume.
Mr. Speaker, again, this bill is about creating American flags in the
United States of America purchased by the Federal Government.
I very much appreciate the gentlelady's concern over small businesses
and business creation. That is why this House and the Senate came
together
[[Page H7028]]
and passed the Small Business bill last week, which the President
signed yesterday, creating more jobs and small businesses, allowing
capital to flow into small businesses through our community banks. It
is a step in the right direction to create businesses here in the
United States. I am pleased that we passed it. I am sorry that the
Republicans didn't join us in that vote and support for small
businesses.
Again, I will remind the gentlelady that small businesses benefit
from the health care bill as well, getting a tax credit for providing
health insurance for their employees for the first time. The small
business community had been shut out of the process of receiving tax
credits for providing health insurance. I am proud of what we have done
for small businesses here in this Congress and will continue to work on
behalf of small businesses.
I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. BILBRAY. Mr. Speaker, I yield 30 seconds to the gentlewoman from
North Carolina (Ms. Foxx).
Ms. FOXX. Mr. Speaker, unfortunately, our colleagues across the aisle
are stuck on failure, the bailouts, one after the other. Last week, the
bill that was passed here, the $30 billion, is another bailout of
banks. It is a failure. Everything that our friends across the aisle--
mostly recommended by the President, have failed. Our unemployment
rate, which was never supposed to go above 8 percent, based on the
stimulus, is at almost 10 percent.
Your ways of doing this are to keep the American people under the
control of the government. Tax credits make them beholden. That is not
the way to do it. No tax increases is the way to do it.
Mr. DRIEHAUS. I yield myself such time as I may consume.
Again, I would like to comment on the lady's comments regarding the
supposed failure of the Recovery Act.
I would invite her to come to Cincinnati, Ohio, where the Banks
Project, the largest project in Cincinnati, is moving forward because
of the Recovery Act. She can meet the hundreds of workers that she
calls a failure. Or she can go to the bridge that is being painted by
90 employees, also funded by the Recovery Act, that crosses the Ohio
River. It is the Roebling Suspension Bridge that connects Kentucky and
Cincinnati. Again, I don't consider that to be a failure. Nor do I
consider to be a failure the hundreds, if not thousands, of jobs in the
State of Ohio that police and firefighters now have, the thousands of
jobs that teachers now have because the Recovery Act.
As a matter of fact, Mr. Speaker, I think it was crystal clear in the
CBO report that came out just a few weeks ago that the Recovery Act in
fact saved or created 3.5 million jobs here in the United States.
I will remind the lady of the failures of the Bush economic policies
that led us into the worst recession in our lifetime. A failure was the
last 6 months of 2008, when we saw the loss of 3 million jobs in this
economy.
I don't call saving and creating 3.5 million jobs a failure, and I
would challenge her to come to Cincinnati and look those workers in the
face that are working on I-75, that are working on the Banks Project,
and suggest to them that their paychecks are a failure of the Federal
Government.
I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. BILBRAY. I yield myself such time as I may consume.
Mr. Speaker, we can talk about successes and failures. Some people
think that the stimulus package costing $200,000 per job, on average,
is not something that is sustainable. But let's talk about something we
can agree is a success, and that is we were able to meet on this bill.
Sadly, it is one of those few things we have been able to reach across
the aisle and work on--that the flags not only that are flown over this
Capitol and around the country, but as somebody who had the privilege
and the honor of having the flag that was on my father's casket fly and
be hung in my office, this will mean that the men and women who served
for the military and fought for the freedoms and for the free
enterprise system that makes our freedoms possible will be able to be
sure that they will not be covered with a flag made in China.
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They will not have slave labor making the Stars and Stripes that are
laid over their casket; that the sacred oath we make to them in so many
different ways will include that the honor of a military funeral and
having the Nation's colors draped over your casket, you will be assured
that it will be said to be made in America.
So with that, I think we need to look at where is the success we can
work on. This is one of those places we have been able to meet. And as
we have been able to meet, talking about how the flags are made, and
especially, finally, some agreement on who should be working in this
country, I think it is one of those things that I hope that we can
build on.
Mr. Speaker, if I can suggest that maybe Republicans and Democrats,
rather than talking about an amnesty here or this proposal, we join on
a bill that is so commonsensical that we don't even talk about it.
H.R. 3580 by Steve King, all that bill says is let's build on the
success of E-Verify and tell employers that we as a government will no
longer allow you to have a tax deduction for employing somebody unless
you take the time to check that that person is legally in the country.
There is a place that Democrats and Republicans can agree on. There is
a place that we can reach a common ground and find answers, rather than
pointing out each other's shortcomings.
Again, I would ask my colleagues on both side of the aisle, look at
Steve King's New IDEA bill, H.R. 3580. It is the most moderate, it is
the most commonsense proposal you can put forward. All it says is
before an employer can deduct the expense of hiring somebody, they darn
well ought to take the time to check that they are legally in the
country. That, I think, is something that we can agree on.
I would love to see that before we adjourn, and maybe when we come
back, that we meet at that middle ground and show the American people
that we not only can stand up and make sure that flags are made legally
in this country, but we can take this step to make sure that employers
who are breaking the law by hiring people illegally are not given a tax
deduction for it. I think that is one place that Republican and
Democrats can join together and be Americans when it comes to these
issues.
Mr. Speaker, we have no other speakers at this time; so I will just
close by saying I think we have had a good discussion here. There are
agreements and disagreements, but I think we found an agreement here.
After all, if Americans cannot get together and agree that American
flags should be made with American material in the United States by
legal Americans, my God, what can we agree on?
I think this is one thing that may be small, most people won't think
it is a big deal, but hopefully this is a prototype and a blueprint for
Democrats and Republicans getting together and agreeing to be Americans
first and voting together and passing the kind of laws the American
people have been waiting for for a long time.
Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
Mr. DRIEHAUS. Mr. Speaker, I very much respect the gentleman's
remarks, and I too have the flag of my father's coffin in my office. We
buried him two years ago last week. So it means something very special
to me that we have come together today to support this legislation,
because when it comes to our Federal tax dollars being spent on
American flags, those jobs should be in the United States, those flags
should be made in the United States, the parts of those flags should be
made in the United States.
I appreciate the support of all the Members of the committee, and I
applaud Representative Braley for bringing the bill forward.
Mr. Speaker, I again urge my colleagues to join me in supporting this
measure.
I yield back the balance of my time.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The question is on the motion offered by the
gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Driehaus) that the House suspend the rules and
pass the bill, H.R. 2853, as amended.
The question was taken.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. In the opinion of the Chair, two-thirds
being in the affirmative, the ayes have it.
Mr. BILBRAY. Mr. Speaker, I object to the vote on the ground that a
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quorum is not present and make the point of order that a quorum is not
present.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to clause 8 of rule XX and the
Chair's prior announcement, further proceedings on this motion will be
postponed.
The point of no quorum is considered withdrawn.
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