Federal government to observe Juneteenth holiday on Friday | TheHill

The federal government will give employees the day off on Friday after President BidenJoe BidenJapan to possibly ease COVID-19 restrictions before Olympics 14 Republicans vote against making Juneteenth a federal holiday China supplies millions of vaccine doses to developing nations in Asia MORE signs a bill making Juneteenth, which marks the end of slavery in America, a federal holiday.

“Today @POTUS will sign the Juneteenth National Independence Day Act, establishing June 19th as a federal holiday.

Biden is scheduled to sign legislation making Juneteenth a federal holiday on Thursday afternoon during an event with Vice President Harris in the East Room, during which they both will give remarks. .

The vote to make Juneteenth a federal holiday — on par with Memorial Day, Veterans Day and other national holidays — punctuated a broader push for racial justice and equity in the United States following the police murder of George Floyd, an unarmed Black man, in Minneapolis in May 2020.

However, the push to make Juneteenth a federal holiday was bipartisan, with several Republicans in both the House and Senate cosponsoring the legislation.