The Senate Just Passed a New Bill to Declare June 19th as a New Holiday

The United States made a big move this week to celebrate the end to slavery in the U.S.

On Tuesday the Senate has passed a bill to establish Juneteenth as a national holiday, marking the end of slavery in the United States.

After passing by unanimous consent, the bill is heading to the House of Representatives, where its passage is all but assured. It will then make its way to
President Biden’s desk for a signature to become a law.

Celebrated on June 19, Juneteenth, also known as Freedom Day, recognizes and marks the emancipation of formerly enslaved African Americans.

The day is commemorating the date in 1865 when slaves in Galveston, Texas, learned of their freedom.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., made a motion to pass the bill via unanimous consent. No other senator objected, including Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., who dropped his previous objection to the bill.

“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,” Johnson said.

The bill was first introduced last spring by Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, and Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee, D-Texas, following the murder of George Floyd. They could not however garner the support needed. Now, about a year later, the bill included 18 GOP co-sponsors.

“It has been a state holiday in Texas for more than 40 years,” Cornyn tweeted. “Now more than ever, we need to learn from our history and continue to form a more perfect union.”

“The stakes are a little different,” Mark Anthony Neal, a Duke University African American studies professor, told the New York Times last summer. “Many Black Americans feel as though this is the first time in a long time that they have been heard in a way across the culture. … It’s an opportunity for folks to kind of catch their breath about what has been this incredible pace of change and shifting that we’ve seen.”

Juneteenth is expected to become the 11th annual federal holiday when President Biden signs it into law.