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Obviously Juneteenth is an incredibly significant commemoration for our country. Nobody disputes that, and nobody disputes the *overwhelming* importance of emancipation. I certainly understand that.

But earlier this evening, the House held a vote to make Juneteenth yet ANOTHER national holiday called… get this… “Juneteenth Independence Day.” I have a few problems with this and voted against the bill, so let’s get the air cleared before you start reading lies claiming that I somehow oppose emancipation, or other ridiculous remarks.

First of all, our Independence Day is July 4th. Period. Independence Day celebrates the anniversary of our declared independence from Great Britain, and it’s been that way for 245 years. If you want to call Juneteenth, for example, Freedom Day or Emancipation Day then fine – that’s certainly worth considering. But calling it Independence Day is WHOLLY INAPPROPIATE.

Second, we can’t just add new federal holidays without considering the ramifications! When Obama issued an executive order in 2014 giving federal employees an extra day off, that cost the government roughly $660 MILLION dollars, according to the Congressional Budget Office. So given inflation and the obnoxious growth of the federal government, this means a Juneteenth holiday should easily cost the federal government over a billion dollars Every. Single. Year. in federal payroll & holiday premiums with no offsets!

We have no idea what the impact of ANY of this will be on the government or private sector. Why? Well that’s my third point. It’s because Nancy Pelosi decided to ram this through without what’s known as “regular order.” By that I mean, there were no hearings, no cost analysis by the CBO, nothing! As reverential as Juneteenth is, this is NO WAY to run the legislative branch of government.

And fourth, since Biden was elected, we now have an inflation crisis, an immigration crisis, a floundering foreign policy, and a host of other problems. There are significant issues facing this nation. It’s time we start actually facing them.