(Washington, D.C.) Senator James Lankford is cosponsoring an amendment that would implement Juneteenth in replace of Columbus Day.
“Throughout our history, we have strived to become a more perfect union and Juneteenth was a huge step in attaining that goal,” Lankford said.
The amendment is expected to be offered to a bill by Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, establishing Juneteenth as a national holiday. The observance of emancipation is on June 19 each year. Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., is cosponsoring the amendment with Lankford. He said Wednesday, “In response to a bipartisan effort to give federal workers another day of paid leave by designating Juneteenth a federal holiday, we have offered a counter-proposal that does not put us further in debt.
“We support celebrating emancipation with a federal holiday, but believe we should eliminate a current holiday in exchange. We chose Columbus Day as a holiday that is lightly celebrated, and least disruptive to Americans’ schedules.”
The senator’s office said the “economic cost of a single federal holiday has been estimated around $600 million for paid time off for federal employees.”
