All-American Flag Act

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).

Mr. Speaker, I yield 30 seconds to the gentlewoman from North Carolina (Ms. Foxx).

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.

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. Speaker, I object to the vote on the ground that a

quorum is not present and make the point of order that a quorum is not present.

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.

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days within which to revise and extend their remarks.

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.

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

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.

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. 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.

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. 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.