House overwhelmingly votes to make Juneteenth a federal holiday, sending bill to Joe Biden

 WASHINGTON – The House passed legislation Wednesday that would make June 19, or Juneteenth — the date commemorating the day news of the Emancipation Proclamation reached Texas —a federal holiday. 

The Juneteenth National Independence Day Act moved through both chambers quickly, with the House passing it just one day after the Senate, after it had been stalled in the upper chamber.

Now that is has passed through Congress, it will go to President Joe Biden's desk on Thursday, just two days before Saturday, June 19.

The Juneteenth National Independence Day Act would grant every federal employee a day off to commemorate June 19, 1865, the day enslaved people in Galveston, Texas, discovered President Abraham Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation freed enslaved African Americans in rebel states 2½ years earlier. The day is also known as Freedom Day or Emancipation Day.

The legislation passed in the House 415-14 Wednesday evening, largely on a bipartisan basis. All those who voted against were Republicans. There were loud cheers from the House floor after its passage.

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2021/06/16/juneteenth-house-vote-bill-make-june-19-federal-holiday/7713301002/



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