WASHINGTON, D.C. — Shortly before Independence Day, lawmakers who want the federal government to buy only American-made U.S. flags won a skirmish in a legislative battle for that goal that’s lasted almost as long as the Revolutionary War itself.

Last week, the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs approved the “All-American Flag Act” authored by Ohio Democratic Sen. Sherrod Brown, which would make the U.S. government buy only flags “that are 100 percent manufactured in the United States, from articles, materials, or supplies 100 percent of which are grown, produced, or manufactured in the United States.”