Sen. Ron Johnson at the 2019 Cap Times Idea Fest.
Wisconsin U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson and another Republican senator on Wednesday proposed scrapping Columbus Day as a federal holiday and replacing it with Juneteenth.
The proposal, which Johnson made with U.S. Sen. James Lankford, R-Oklahoma, comes after the introduction of a Senate bill last week that would establish the holiday. Johnson's substitute amendment puts that bipartisan effort, which has 51 co-sponsors, on hold.
An aide for Democratic Wisconsin Sen. Tammy Baldwin, one of the co-sponsors, said she opposes Johnson’s amendment.
“She does not support this amendment because it undermines making Juneteenth a federal holiday and this opposition slows down the progress being made on getting it done,” the staffer told the Cap Times in an email.
Johnson, the Republican chairman of the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, didn't sign on as a co-sponsor of the original bill.
Johnson said he supports the new paid holiday but offered the amendment because it "does not put us further in debt."
"We support celebrating emancipation with a federal holiday, but believe we should eliminate a current holiday in exchange," he said in a statement. "We chose Columbus Day as a holiday that is lightly celebrated, and least disruptive to Americans' schedules."
Since Columbus Day falls on the second Monday of October, the proposal would add a summer federal holiday in exchange for one in the fall.
It's also a nod to a growing number of critics who complain that, rather than a day to celebrate, Columbus Day marks the savage colonization of the Americas, the start of the transatlantic slave trade and the deaths of millions of indigenous people from murder and disease.
Several states and localities — including Wisconsin last year with an executive order from Democratic Gov. Tony Evers — have rebranded Columbus Day as Indigenous Peoples Day.
Juneteenth, or June 19, 1865, is the day slaves were freed in Texas, more than two years after the Emancipation Proclamation was signed, marking the end of slavery in the U.S. It is celebrated as a holiday in 47 states, including Wisconsin, as a state holiday, but a federal designation has never been enacted. In the midst of nationwide racial justice protests after the June 25 police killing of George Floyd, the holiday has gained increased attention.
Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, who co-authored the Juneteenth bill with Sen. Ed Markey, D-Massachusetts, called Johnson's proposal “problematic.”
Ditching Columbus Day, he told The Hill, “dilutes the message we’re trying to send, which is one of being respectful and honoring and remembering our history.”
Conryn had hoped to bring it to the floor soon and pass it by unanimous consent or a voice vote, The Hill reported.
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July 02, 2020 at 01:15AM
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Ron Johnson proposes scrapping Columbus Day for Juneteenth holiday - Madison.com
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