美國軍方停止使用中國製造的美國國旗
Soldiers carry them into battle, fly them high over foreign bases, and triumphantly carry them in processions, but those stars and stripes, until now, have often been made in China.
That irony spurred North Bay Congressman Mike Thompson (D) to write legislation requiring flags purchased by the Department of Defense (DoD) be 100 percent “Made in America.” That legislation is now law, signed as part of the 2014 omnibus appropriations bill.
“I thought it was appalling our Department of Defense would have flags made in other countries,” Thompson said. “But it’s also important because we need to be making more in America.”
While the military flag rule passed, a similar bill requiring all government-purchased flags be made in the US has repeatedly failed. The change isn’t cheap. Chinese-made flags cost significantly less than all-American ones.
The new requirements apply the existing Berry Amendment passed in 1941 to flags. That amendment bans the Defense Department from buying food, clothing, military uniforms, fabrics, stainless steel, and hand or measuring tools that are not grown or produced in the United States, except in rare exceptions.
“I am proud to have worked to pass this law so that our men and women in uniform never have to fight under a US flag made overseas, and so that our Defense Department never again spends American tax dollars on a US flag made overseas,” said the Vietnam War veteran and Purple Heart recipient.
Thompson toured North Bay Industries on Tuesday. The Rohnert Park company makes thousands of flags each year, mainly for the Department of Veteran Affairs, which was already required to source memorial flags made in the United States with American-only materials.
North Bay Industries is a vocational rehabilitation center dedicated to assisting mentally, physically, and developmentally disabled adults through participation in agency-sponsored training, housing, and employment programs.
Thompson had visited the Rohnert Park facility last year and found out that not all flags purchased by the military were being made in the US, which he said prompted the need for the legislation美軍士兵們不僅扛着國旗戰鬥，這些國旗還高懸在美軍駐海外軍事基地上，放在凱旋美軍的行囊裏，然而這些美國星條旗卻常常是由中國製造。
這讓北灣（North Bay）民主黨國會議員麥克·湯普森（Mike Thompson）深受刺激，他寫信給美國立法機構要求美國國防部（Dod）購買的星條旗必須是百分之百美國製造。這個提議現在已經變成了法律，國旗的購買成爲了美國2014年綜合撥款法案的一部分。
湯普森說到：“國防部會購買外國生產的美國國旗，我想這真是聳人聽聞，但這也很能說明問題，因爲美國需要製造更多的國旗。”
軍隊使用美國本土生產的國旗法案已被通過，但與之相似的一項要求所有由政府購買的國旗也必須產自美國的提案卻屢屢未能得到批准，要改變現狀可不是易事，因爲中國產的星條旗要比美國產的便宜很多。
這項新的訴求適用於1941年通過的有關國旗的貝瑞修正案（Berry Amendment)，該修正案禁止美國防部購買任何美國已經不生產或製造的食品、衣物、軍裝、織物、不鏽鋼製品、手工工具和測繪工具，但一些稀有緊俏物資除外。
這位越戰老兵、紫心勳章（Purple Heart）獲得者說：“我爲能實現這項法案的通過而感到驕傲，從此以後我們的軍人們再也不會在從國外買來的國旗底下戰鬥了，國防部也不會拿着美國納稅人的錢到國外去買國旗了。”
湯普森週二的時候參觀了北灣工業區，羅納公園公司（Rohnert Park company)每年生產幾千面國旗，主要銷售給美國退役軍人事務部（Department of Veteran Affairs），退役軍人部早已要求該公司使用由美國本土原料製造的有紀念意義的國旗。
北灣工業區是一個職業康復中心，該中心致力於通過由一些機構贊助的培訓、食宿和就業從而對那些心理上、生理上或成長上有障礙的成年人提供幫助。
湯普森去年曾到訪過羅納公園公司，得知軍方購買的國旗並不完全都產於美國，他稱這觸發了他提議立法的念頭。
