Each year we celebrate the American Flag on Flag Day, which is June 14, and this year, an Ohio Senator is hoping that his colleagues will take the word "American" to heart when it comes to purchasing Old Glory.
The stars and stripes has been our nation's flag for 234 years. On Fairground Boulevard in Canfield, nearly every house has a flag either in the yard or attached to their homes.
Flags are a passion for Ron Craig, who runs the Western Reserve Flag Company in Boardman.
"I'd say probably my first or second trip to Gettysburg and walking the battlefields. It makes your heart thump, brings a tear to your eye, and then you just remember your roots from there," Craig said.
Craig only sells flags that are made in the U.S.A.
"Don't forget where we're living at now. Plenty of guys have laid it on the line. There's only two people who have given their lives for ya, and that's Jesus Christ and the American soldier. And I'm committed to that," Craig said.
Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, wants to make sure that our Federal Government is buying those American-made flags. He is proposing legislation called the "All American Made Flag Act" that requires any American flag the government buys to be made in America.
"It's symbolic. But it speaks to the whole issue of government. Too often, whether it's the Defense Department, whether it's highway construction, whether it's buildings, whether it's other products, we are too often spending taxpayer dollars buying products made elsewhere," Brown said.
Brown believes the flag is just the start. He wants to see stronger "buy American language" for all federal purchases and he is hoping his flag bill will get bi-partisan support.
