Posted on 07/01/2020 6:21:36 PM PDT by Borges
Republican senators Ron Johnson (R., Wis.) and James Lankford (R., Okla.) introduced an amendment Wednesday that would replace Columbus Day with Juneteenth as a federal holiday.
The proposal, which follows last week’s introduction of a bipartisan Senate bill by Senator John Cornyn (R., Texas) that would establish Juneteenth as a federal holiday, is aimed in large part at offsetting the cost associated with Cornyn’s plan. Each new federal holiday costs an estimated $600 million in paid time off for government employees, according to a Fox News report.
“Throughout our history, we have strived to become a more perfect union and Juneteenth was a huge step in attaining that goal,” Lankford said in a statement. “We should celebrate these strides on the federal level while remaining cognizant of the impact the existing 10 federal holidays have on federal services and local businesses.”
“We support celebrating emancipation with a federal holiday, but believe we should eliminate a current holiday in exchange,” Johnson said in a statement. “We chose Columbus Day as a holiday that is lightly celebrated, and least disruptive to Americans’ schedules.”
Juneteenth, held on June 19 to commemorate the day in 1865 when slavery definitively ended in the U.S., is currently celebrated as a holiday in 47 states. The holiday has gained increased attention amid the nationwide protests that followed George Floyd’s death in police custody.
79 Protestors have torn down and vandalized statues of Christopher Columbus, an Italian Renaissance-era explorer often credited with being the first European to discover the Americas. A growing number of critics have called for Columbus Day to be eliminated or renamed Indigenous Peoples’ Day, upset at the celebration of what they see as Columbus’s subjugation and mistreatment of the New World’s native population.
Cornyn told The Hill that eliminating Columbus Day in favor of Juneteenth is “problematic” and “dilutes the message we’re trying to send, which is one of being respectful and honoring and remembering our history.”
No! It’s time to stop pandering and apologizing for the distant past.
People in those states need to bombard these Senators with emails and phone calls.
Agreed! What a bunch of losers.
During the next full season of Congress, nuke the entire Capitol Building.
Tucker Carlson is right.
You can always count on Republicans to pull this s—t just so the Left won’t scream at them.
Why wasn’t Juneteenth a priority during Obama’s terms?
What about MLKJr day??
Doesn’t that “matter”?????
Let me answer my question:
It’s because it’s imperative the Republicans accept this stupid premise that America is an evil/racist nation.
Lankford is a carpetbagging political whore from Texas.
Forget it. There are 10 federal holidays. Blacks are one eighth of the population so the can have one of the holidays. But that is MLK day so they have all they are entitled to on basis of representation in the population. (Two can play that game...)
Forget it. There are 10 federal holidays. Blacks are one eighth of the population so the can have one of the holidays. But that is MLK day so they have all they are entitled to on basis of representation in the population. (Two can play that game...)
These loser Republicans have learned nothing from Trump. They are having a heyday right now because of him but once Trump leaves politics these losers will go back to doing what they do best - losing and being irrelevant.
how about Labor Day
lets get rid of it and get back to work
Is “holiday” the correct word for Juneteenth
It took 2 years for the people of Texas to learn that they were free. Compound this with the fact that actual humans were owned like dogs.
If Planned Parenthood actually held that black lives matter and quit killing so many innocent babies, especially those of African descent, but instead actually helped people to prepare for marriage and parenthood, then they might double their population share.
We MUST replace Bush League Republicans before they give away our country.
Let’s have a Juneteenth holiday, call it Emancipation Day and have it on June Nineteen. Fair enough.
Why, WHY does it have to be at the expense of Columbus Day?
Only an @$$#013 would dignify such an idea.
OK, then let’s make Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur national holidays. I was given those days off by merely requesting them and using my leave time, but that’s just me.
This is why I can’t stand republicans. They didn’t lift a finger or say a word when the mob attacked our statues, our culture and our police. Yet, now, they decide to pander and remove Columbus Day for this new holiday? They open their mouths and speak to this? Are you F’ing kidding me? If it wasn’t for trump, I wouldn’t vote for any of these losers. Why didn’t republicans leadership quash this and put these rinos in their place? Because they are all pandering cowards that don’t stand for us.
These useless Republicans said and did virtually nothing about the terrorists and rioters, but they want to do this? They really don’t care if their base deserts them.
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