WASHINGTON–The Federal Reserve will be joining the rest of the federal government in closing its offices today in observance of the just-created Juneteenth National Independence Day.
However, the Fed said Federal Reserve Financial Services will operate normally today and Monday to provide payment services, including the fulfillment of orders for currency and coin, which is standard practice for any federal holiday that falls on a Saturday, it said.
The Fed said all previously scheduled announcements will be released today or postponed until Monday, June 21, with more information on the Board's website.
The Fed’s closure, like that of all federal offices today, came about suddenly. Just this week Congress passed legislation establishing June 19 as Juneteenth National Independence Day to commemorate the end of slavery in the United States.
The Senate passed its resolution first, moving forward after Wisconsin Republican Sen. Ron Johnson, who blocked the bill in 2020, arguing the day off for federal employees would cost taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars, dropped his objection.
"Although I strongly support celebrating Emancipation, I objected to the cost and lack of debate," said Johnson in a statement. "While it still seems strange that having taxpayers provide federal employees paid time off is now required to celebrate the end of slavery, it is clear that there is no appetite in Congress to further discuss the matter."
The measure then passed the House 415-14, before going to President Biden for his signature.
In signing the legislation, Biden called it “a day of, in my view, profound weight and profound power,” noting it was the first new national holiday established since Martin Luther King Day in 1983. By making it a federal holiday, Mr. Biden said, “all Americans can feel the power of this day, and learn from our history, and celebrate progress and grapple with the distance we’ve come but the distance we have to travel.”
History of Juneteenth
On June 19, 1865, Major General Gordon Granger announced in Galveston, Texas, the end of slavery in accordance with President Abraham Lincoln's 1863 Emancipation Proclamation.
In 1980, Juneteenth became a Texas state holiday. In the decades since, every state but South Dakota came to officially commemorate Juneteenth, but only a handful of states observe it as a paid holiday.