Biden Signs Bill Making Juneteenth A National Holiday: Replay

WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden has made Juneteenth, June 19, a federal holiday after he signed a bill on Thursday that passed through the U.S. House of Representatives a day before.

“I hope this is the beginning of a change in the way we deal with one another,” Biden said.

With the signing, Juneteenth has become the 12th federal holiday. The House voted 415-14 on Wednesday to send the bill to Biden. The Senate had already approved the bill unanimously.

Juneteenth commemorates June 19, 1865, when Union soldiers brought the news of freedom to enslaved Black people in Galveston, Texas — two months after the Confederacy had surrendered. That was also about 2 1/2 years after the Emancipation Proclamation freed slaves in the Southern states.

It’s the first new federal holiday since Martin Luther King Jr. Day was created in 1983.

The U.S. Office of Personnel Management, the human resources office for the federal government, tweeted Thursday that most federal employees will observe the new holiday — Juneteenth National Independence Day — on Friday since June 19 falls on a Saturday this year.

“Our federal holidays are purposely few in number and recognize the most important milestones," said Rep. Carolyn Maloney, a Democrat from New York. “I cannot think of a more important milestone to commemorate than the end of slavery in the United States."

The Senate passed the bill on Tuesday under a unanimous consent agreement that expedites the process for considering legislation. It takes just one senator’s objection to block such agreements.

Watch a replay of the Biden Juneteenth bill signing below or on the White House YouTube channel.

The Associated Press contributed reporting.