![]() Therefore, I do not intend to object," he said in a statement. ![]() "While it still seems strange that having taxpayers provide federal employees paid time off is now required to celebrate the end of slavery, it is clear that there is no appetite in Congress to further discuss the matter. This year, Johnson's concern was overridden by the Senate's overwhelming support. At the time, he suggested dropping one of the 10 federal holidays. While he favored celebrating the end of chattel slavery - the practice of enslaving and owning people and their offspring as property, to be bought, sold and forced to work without wages - he said he could not get behind paying for another day off for federal workers. Ron Johnson of Wisconsin, who voted against the Juneteenth legislation in 2020 when it was first introduced. That was the stumbling block for Republican Sen. ![]() Day, and it became a major roadblock in the case of Juneteenth.Īccording to a 2014 estimate by the White House budget office, it costs $660 million to cover a day of payroll and holiday premium pay. One challenge elected officials face in declaring a new federal holiday is the cost. It was a move that cost the state an estimated $500 million in revenue.Īs for Juneteenth, there has been a surge in recognition in recent years by local and state governments - 47 states acknowledge it in some way, with some, including Texas, declaring it a paid holiday. Even then, it took nearly two more decades for all individual states also to recognize the holiday.Īmong the most avid opponents was Arizona, which didn't come around until 1995 - a couple of years after the NFL moved a Super Bowl game to California in protest. It was a 15-year journey that began in 1968, four days after King was assassinated, and it wasn't observed until 1986. Day to celebrate King's contribution to the civil rights movement. The last one was in 1983 when President Ronald Reagan signed a bill adding Martin Luther King Jr. Until Juneteenth, there have been 10 federal holidays for the country at large.īefore the passage of the Juneteenth legislation by the House and Senate this week, there have only been four new holidays added to the national calendar in the past 100 years. Meanwhile, states independently establish their own holidays or commemoration days. Instead, the two branches establish permanent federal holidays that only legally apply to federal employees across the nation and in the District of Columbia. Technically, there is no such thing as a national holiday, because neither the president nor Congress has ever asserted power to declare a holiday that binds all 50 states, according to the Congressional Research Service. It's difficult to get any day declared a U.S. Undeterred, she returned again in February as a new version of the Juneteenth National Independence Day Act was reintroduced. "It wasn't a success," she said about the trip. ![]() Her annual walks culminated in a trip to the Capitol in September, carrying a petition signed by 1½ million Americans urging Congress to pass legislation for a federal holiday. Since then, Lee has become known as the Grandmother of Juneteenth. Over several weeks, Lee arrived in cities where she'd been invited to speak and walked 2½ miles to symbolize the 2½ years that it took for enslaved people in Texas to learn they were free. She decided to start with a walking campaign in cities along a route from her home in Fort Worth, Texas, to Washington, D.C. But she said that after more than 40 years as a community activist, she "really doubled down in 2016" by "going bigger."Īt the age of 89, Lee decided her new life mission was much like that of Granger: "I knew I just had to spread the word about Juneteenth to everybody." The best way to do that, she figured, was to help get Juneteenth accepted as a national holiday. In a warm and raspy voice, Lee recalls her decades of work in the Juneteenth movement after joining the Tarrant County Black Historical and Genealogical Society, which oversaw local Juneteenth celebrations. She's known as the Grandmother of Juneteenth President Biden signed the bill on Thursday, and Lee was standing beside him during the ceremony.
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