WASHINGTON — Should U.S. flags that fly from federal buildings be made entirely in the U.S.A.?

So ask sponsors of the "All-American Flag Act," introduced in response to the $3.6 million in imports of U.S. flags, mostly from China.

The bill's sponsors used the day before Independence Day to call on the House to pass a Senate-approved bill that would require the federal government to purchase only flags made entirely from domestic content.

"We should do all we can to support American manufacturing and job creation, especially when it comes to our most treasured of patriotic symbols — the American flag," said Sen. Sherrod Brown, a Democrat whose state of Ohio is home to U.S. flag-makers. It was not immediately clear why the bill has yet to come up for a vote in the House.

U.S. flag imports were valued at $3.6 million last year, with $3.3 million coming from China, according to the Census Bureau.

Federal law now requires that U.S. flags purchased by the federal government contain a minimum of 50 percent U.S.-made materials.

The legislation would require federal agencies to purchase only flags made entirely in the U.S. "from articles, materials, or supplies 100 percent of which are grown, produced or manufactured in the United States."