Donald Trump wants to cut federal holidays: Here’s what he said
The President claimed that “non-working holidays” cost billions of dollars every year and suggested that he wanted to change the calendar.
During his first term in office, President Donald marked each Juneteenth holiday with a message of support. This time around there was no celebratory message, just a social media post that complained that there are now too many federal holidays.
The message was posted on the day that marks the ending of slavery in the United States - June 19, 1865 - when Union soldiers freed the enslaved population of Galveston, Texas.
‘Juneteenth’ was officially recognized as a national federal holiday by Joe Biden in 2021 and, since then, Trump appears to have gone off it. Not only did he post no message of support this year, he has actively called for a reduction in the number of federal holidays.
Writing on TruthSocial, Trump said: “Too many non-working holidays in America. It is costing our Country $BILLIONS OF DOLLARS to keep all of these businesses closed.”
He continued: “The workers don’t want it either! Soon we’ll end up having a holiday for every once working day of the year. It must change if we are going to, MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!"
It’s a far cry from the final year of his first term in office, when he issued a special Presidential Message on Juneteenth, 2020. Trump’s statement described Juneteenth as “both a remembrance of a blight on our history and a celebration of our Nation’s unsurpassed ability to triumph over darkness.”
But could Trump actually cancel a federal holiday? On his own, no. The President would need to wait for a bill from Congress to revoke the status of federal holiday, which he would then need to sign.
It seems unlikely that Congress would have much inclination to pass a bill that would almost certainly prove very unpopular with the public. Despite Trump’s claim that “workers don’t want it either,” many Americans will be hoping that the Juneteenth holiday stays for a long time to come.
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