Senate passes bill to buy American-made flags

The Senate passed a bill Tuesday that would require the federal government to buy only U.S. flags entirely made in America.

Sen. Sherrod Brown introduced S. 1214, the All-American Flag Act. The Senate passed the measure through a unanimous consent agreement. It now heads to the House for further action.

{mosads}The Senate passed several other bills through unanimous consent before adjourning for the evening.

The Senate approved House-passed H.R. 4194, the Government Reports Elimination Act, which eases federal reporting requirements for numerous agencies.

The Senate added a minor amendment to the legislation meaning it will return to the House.

Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa) introduced S. 2511, which would require employers to fulfill pension promises if they stop operations and more than 20 percent of their employees are fired. That bill now heads to the House for further action.

S. 2440, the BLM Permit Processing Improvement Act also heads to the House for further action. Sen. Tom Udall (D-N.M.) introduced that bill, which would make the Federal Permit Streamlining Project program permanent.

Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) introduced S. 2539, the Traumatic Brain Injury Reauthorization Act, which would authorize appropriations through fiscal year 2019 for traumatic brain injury (TBI) prevention and surveillance or registry programs. That bill also heads to the House.

Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) introduced S. 2117, the Smart Savings Act, which would change the automatic enrollment for federal employees enrolling in the Thrift Savings Plan (TSP) from the more conservative “G Fund” to an age-appropriate, lifecycle “L Fund” to increase investment returns. That bill is headed to the House for further action.

— This article was updated at 8:20 p.m.