WASHINGTON, DC (WTAQ) — There has been a call to add Juneteenth as a federal holiday in Congress, and now, one of Wisconsin’s senators is proposing a change of his own.
Republican Senator Ron Johnson says federal holidays aren’t cheap, so instead of adding one to the ten already on the calendar, he says they should look at getting rid of Columbus day and replacing it with Juneteenth.
“If you want to celebrate the emancipation of slaves with a paid day off for federal workers, we ought to look at our other ten federal holidays and remove one of them,” said Johnson.
Johnson made the proposal after senators earlier this week proposed adding the holiday, which marks the end of slavery in the United States, by unanimous consent, meaning a formal vote wouldn’t go forward.
“A new federal holiday, by the way, costs approximately $600 million dollars, at least,” Johnson told WTAQ’s ‘The Regular Joe Show’. “We should at least have a discussion and a vote, not just pass this by unanimous consent.”
Johnson says that while he wants to slow down the process of making Juneteenth a federal holiday, he doesn’t have anything against either Juneteenth or Columbus Day.
“I understand the times we’re in,” Johnson said. “I am in no way, shape, or form picking on Columbus Day. Go through the ten holidays. Try to figure out the one you’d eliminate in exchange.”
Johnson has taken a lot of flak for the proposal, including from conservatives. Fox News host Tucker Carlson, in particular, ripped into Johnson on his primetime program on Wednesday night, accusing the second-term congressman of capitulating to the demands of rioters.
“I was the only one willing to slow this process down. I was the only one,” Johnson said Thursday. “And now I’m getting skewered by conservatives.”
Johnson said in a statement that Columbus Day was picked because it’s a lightly celebrated holiday and eliminating it as a federal day-off would be minimally distruptive to American’s schedules.
Ten holidays are included as paid holidays for federal employees. Among them are New Year’s Day (January 1), the Birthday of Martin Luther King, Jr. (Third Monday in January), Washington’s Birthday (Third Monday in February), Memorial Day (Last Monday in May), Independence Day (July 4), Labor Day (First Monday in September), Columbus Day (Second Monday in October), Veterans Day (November 11), Thanksgiving Day (Fourth Thursday in November), and Christmas Day (December 25).
