U.S. Sens. Ron Johnson and James Lankford backtracked their support for an amendment that would have replaced Columbus Day with Juneteenth or "Emancipation Day" as a paid federal holiday.
Johnson and Lankford filed an amendment to a bipartisan bill on July 1, asking that Juneteenth replace Columbus Day, so as not to add an additional federal holiday in order to "protect taxpayers from the fiscal burden of having to fund an 11th paid holiday for federal employees."
Federal employees are given 10 paid holidays a year, and an additional holiday would cost taxpayers $600 million had Juneteenth been passed as a paid federal holiday.
Johnson's original proposed amendment sought to eliminate the costs by replacing Juneteenth with the holiday celebrating Christopher Columbus.
"Many were not happy with the proposal to swap a holiday celebrating emancipation with Columbus Day,” Johnson said in a news release.
"I was in no way deprecating Christopher Columbus’ achievements or expressing any value judgment regarding his place in history. As I stated in an interview with the Milwaukee Press Club last Friday, I do not support efforts to erase America’s rich history — not the good, the bad or the ugly," Johnson said in a news release.
“Instead of eliminating a current holiday to make room for Juneteenth Day, I will be proposing to reduce the number of paid leave days federal employees receive, to offset the cost of the new holiday celebrating emancipation. This modification both preserves Columbus Day and the dollars of hard-working taxpayers," Johnson said.
Samantha Hendrickson can be reached at 414-224-2865 or shendrickson@gannett.com. Follow her on Twitter at @samanthajhendr.
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The Link LonkJuly 04, 2020 at 08:01AM
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Sen. Ron Johnson retracts amendment for Juneteenth replacement of Columbus Day as federal holiday - Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
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