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The United States Senate unanimously passed a bill to make Juneteenth, the day Americans commemorate the abolition of slavery, a national holiday. The proposal is now going to the House of Representatives and if it also gets the green light there, it will be the eleventh national holiday.
In this case, federal government employees get a day off each year on or around June 19. This concerns 2 million employees. It also increases the chances in businesses and local governments that June will become a day off for more people. About 47 states and the District of Columbia, in which the capital Washington is located, have long recognized Juneteenth as a public holiday.
Juneteenth commemorates the liberation of the last slaves in the United States on June 19, 1865 in Galveston, Texas.
Black lives matter
Calls to declare Juneteenth a national holiday had grown stronger with Black Lives Matter’s ongoing protests against racism and excessive police brutality. A bill to make this possible was introduced in 2020 by some senators, a mixed group of Democrats and Republicans.
The proposal was initially opposed by Republican Ron Johnson, who argued that taxpayers should not pay an extra day off for federal government employees. The annual costs were estimated by him at $ 600 million per year for 2 million employees who are paid on national holidays. Johnson dropped his objection because, he said in a statement, he found there was “no interest in Congress discussing the matter further.” The proposal was passed without opposition from Johnson.
The last time another national holiday was added to the calendar in the United States was in 1983, when Martin Luther King Day was declared a national holiday.
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