It is only fitting that on Flag Day, several of our U.S. senators introduced a bill that should already have been the law.

Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., was joined by Sens. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, Susan Collins, R-Maine, and Gary Peters, D-Mich., in introducing the bipartisan All-American Flag Act, which requires the federal government to exclusively purchase flags that are entirely produced and manufactured in the United States.

“It’s plain and simple: The United States flag, which serves as a symbol of our founding history and values, should not be made overseas,” Manchin said.

“I am proud to reintroduce this common-sense legislation to require the federal government to purchase flags manufactured entirely in the United States. I encourage my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to support this bipartisan legislation to protect our symbol of American ideals and encourage American manufacturing jobs,” he said.

“American flags should be made in America, period,” he said. “Today, half of the materials that our women and men in uniform fight under can be made in China. We have to change that. We shouldn’t use taxpayer dollars to purchase American flags made overseas when American companies — and companies right here in Ohio — proudly produce the American flag.

“My bipartisan All-American Flag Act would ensure that the government buys flags that are entirely produced and manufactured in America, by American workers.”

Collins, always a voice of bipartisan reason, said requiring U.S. flags to be manufactured here sends a clear message.

The American flag serves as a symbol of our identity, resolve and values as one people. To honor its significance, the federal government should only use flags entirely manufactured in the United States,” she said. “This bipartisan legislation would ensure that the symbol of our nation is preserved while supporting American jobs and manufacturers.”

We have long supported the need to return more manufacturing to the United States, and it only makes sense that a great place to start is with the manufacture of this great nation’s flag.

The standard bearer of freedom shouldn’t allow the symbol of that freedom — its flag — to be made in countries that don’t believe in freedom and human rights.

Surely, a bipartisan coalition of senators — and then House members — can see their way to pass this legislation, as well as increase efforts to bring more manufacturing back home.