Senate unanimously passes bill to make Juneteenth a federal holiday

[laylalex 7,293]

The Senate has unanimously passed a bill to establish Juneteenth as a federal holiday.

Juneteenth, which takes place annually on June 19, marks the true end of slavery in the United States. It commemorates June 19, 1865, when Union Army General Gordon Granger proclaimed freedom from slavery in the state of Texas, nearly two years after the Emancipation Proclamation. The holiday has been celebrated in 47 states and the District of Columbia, but now, if passed through the Senate, will be recognized on a national level.

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/congress/senate-unanimously-passes-bill-make-juneteenth-federal-holiday-n1270967

[Crtcl Rice Theory 2,432]

It is good to see this pass unanimously.  

[Dashinka 24,635]

So was it passed or not?  Seems like a juvenile article when the headline and the article give different messages.  It was also good to find out that June 19th occurs annually on June 19th.  As to the actual bill passed by the Senate, it took long enough. 

 

The holiday has been celebrated in 47 states and the District of Columbia, but now, if passed through the Senate, will be recognized on a national level.

 

 

[yuna628 9,687]

31 minutes ago, Dashinka said:

So was it passed or not?  Seems like a juvenile article when the headline and the article give different messages.  It was also good to find out that June 19th occurs annually on June 19th.  As to the actual bill passed by the Senate, it took long enough. 

 

The holiday has been celebrated in 47 states and the District of Columbia, but now, if passed through the Senate, will be recognized on a national level.

 

 

 

It passed in the Senate. It needs to pass the House, otherwise no national holiday for you. NBC doesn't understand how bill passages work in the first paragraph.

 

It's a state holiday here, so the husband is off, though it provided some confusion with the employees. It's not listed on the official holiday calendar, so some people actually forgot they have off this week. It'd be nice if it did pass though, so that it could be extended to all persons.

[moxy 1,051]

Some of y'all never watched School House Rock while being latchkey kids, and it shows.

[Nature Boy 2.0 8,376]

56 minutes ago, moxy said:

Some of y'all never watched School House Rock while being latchkey kids, and it shows.

I live by conjunction junctioner and all the lessons it taughted me 

[Dashinka 24,635]

3 hours ago, moxy said:

Some of y'all never watched School House Rock while being latchkey kids, and it shows.

Umm, I did not write the article from NBC.  Maybe you should send a copy of that to them.

[laylalex 7,293]

Does it really matter now?

 

https://www.npr.org/2021/06/16/1007340587/house-passes-a-bill-to-commemorate-juneteenth-as-a-federal-holiday

Quote

 

The Democratic-led House of Representatives on Wednesday easily approved legislation to commemorate Juneteenth, the national remembrance of the end of chattel slavery in the United States, as a federal holiday.

The 415-14 House vote follows Tuesday's unanimous approval in the Senate to federally recognize the holiday. All 14 no votes in the House came from Republicans. The bill now heads to President Biden's desk.

 

 

This is important -- the end of slavery is meaningful to all Americans and it is right that we should mark it with the appropriate amount of celebration.  

[moxy 1,051]

18 minutes ago, laylalex said:

Does it really matter now?

 

https://www.npr.org/2021/06/16/1007340587/house-passes-a-bill-to-commemorate-juneteenth-as-a-federal-holiday

 

This is important -- the end of slavery is meaningful to all Americans and it is right that we should mark it with the appropriate amount of celebration.  

This is fantastic news.

 

Having said that... I would have taken the election reform bill currently being blocked by Joe Manchin over this. The possibly good news is, we may get both. Manchin signaling he's willing to support a scaled-down version, which hopefully won't be toothless.

[Neonred 3,577]

Will this be one of those Monday holidays? 

 

While I have no interest in this holiday, I do like long weekends.

[Cyberfx1024 7,980]

16 minutes ago, Neonred said:

Will this be one of those Monday holidays? 

 

While I have no interest in this holiday, I do like long weekends.

Who knows right now. They were debating this on Reddit today. I just want a long weekend as well

[Dashinka 24,635]

6 hours ago, moxy said:

This is fantastic news.

 

Having said that... I would have taken the election reform bill currently being blocked by Joe Manchin over this. The possibly good news is, we may get both. Manchin signaling he's willing to support a scaled-down version, which hopefully won't be toothless.

Yeah, it will be much better for the Feds to take over everything.

[moxy 1,051]

Have you read the bill? 90% of what's in this bill is (well, used to be, before Republicans lost their collective minds) bipartisan.

 

- State elections officials required to automatically register eligible voters, giving people the option to opt-out of doing so.

- Restores voting rights for formerly incarcerated people convicted of felonies who have completed their sentences. (It does not restore voting rights to people serving sentences.)

- In states with voter ID laws, people would be allowed to cast ballots by signing a sworn affidavit if they do not present ID.

- Allows voters to designate a third party to drop off their sealed and signed mail-in or absentee ballot to a post office, ballot drop-off location or other designated elections office, provided that the person is not paid to do so.

- Creates an independent redistricting commissions that redraw congressional districts in an effort to combat partisan-driven gerrymandering. The commission would include five Democrats, five Republicans and five independents.

- Opens a public comment period for Americans to object to gerrymandering in their districts and create a clear channel for legal challenges.

- Super PACs and "dark money" groups required to make their donors public, and social media companies would also be required to disclose funding sources from political ads that appear on their platforms.

- Endorses a constitutional amendment to reverse Citizens United

- Establishes a voluntary public financing effort for federal campaigns, using public funds – raised from a percentage of fees and fines from corporate malfeasance cases – to create a 6-1 match for small-dollar donations. The maximum small donation that could be matched would be capped at $200. (It does not use or raise money from taxpayers.)

- Sexual harassment lawsuits against members of Congress also would be prohibited from using taxpayer funds in settlements.

- The president and vice president and candidates for those offices would be required to disclose at least 10 years of tax returns.

- The Office of Government Ethics would also be given greater enforcement and oversight powers, including over foreign agents and lobbyists.

[yuna628 9,687]

So I'm pleased that this passed completely last night, and fairly bipartisan too. Congrats everyone on your new holiday.

[Dashinka 24,635]

1 hour ago, moxy said:

Have you read the bill? 90% of what's in this bill is (well, used to be, before Republicans lost their collective minds) bipartisan.

 

- State elections officials required to automatically register eligible voters, giving people the option to opt-out of doing so.

- Restores voting rights for formerly incarcerated people convicted of felonies who have completed their sentences. (It does not restore voting rights to people serving sentences.)

- In states with voter ID laws, people would be allowed to cast ballots by signing a sworn affidavit if they do not present ID.

- Allows voters to designate a third party to drop off their sealed and signed mail-in or absentee ballot to a post office, ballot drop-off location or other designated elections office, provided that the person is not paid to do so.

- Creates an independent redistricting commissions that redraw congressional districts in an effort to combat partisan-driven gerrymandering. The commission would include five Democrats, five Republicans and five independents.

- Opens a public comment period for Americans to object to gerrymandering in their districts and create a clear channel for legal challenges.

- Super PACs and "dark money" groups required to make their donors public, and social media companies would also be required to disclose funding sources from political ads that appear on their platforms.

- Endorses a constitutional amendment to reverse Citizens United

- Establishes a voluntary public financing effort for federal campaigns, using public funds – raised from a percentage of fees and fines from corporate malfeasance cases – to create a 6-1 match for small-dollar donations. The maximum small donation that could be matched would be capped at $200. (It does not use or raise money from taxpayers.)

- Sexual harassment lawsuits against members of Congress also would be prohibited from using taxpayer funds in settlements.

- The president and vice president and candidates for those offices would be required to disclose at least 10 years of tax returns.

- The Office of Government Ethics would also be given greater enforcement and oversight powers, including over foreign agents and lobbyists.

Yeah, another hit on Citizens United.  Interestingly, none of the doomsday scenarios brought forward by the Left/Dems/Activist Media have come to pass.  If they want to get corporate money out of politics, they need to get union money out as well.  The redistricting panels are really a joke, I am an independent, and yet you label me a conservative, so would you want me on that panel?  It is just another joke of the feds taking over something that belongs to the local level.  Voting takes some responsibility, that includes registering properly to vote, maybe they could spend more money on educating people how to register and vote properly.  Voting ID is also something that almost every country requires, yet our Dems/Left here label that a racist act.  Are they protesting voter ID laws in European or other countries?  Of course the Dems want to legalize vote harvesting (giving their vote to a third party) nationwide, they see how well it works for them.  Then of course we get the Trump rule on income taxes.    The only thing worthwhile in what you listed was the requirement for Super PACs, but why not go all the way and make Super PACs illegal altogether?  Also, not really sure why the sexual harassment stuff is in a voter rights bill, but whatever, Congress is full of idiots, this is something that should have been taken care of many many years ago.  Regardless, this bill is not a panacea by any means, and it is just a move to federalize local elections.  Quite a bit of the bill is questionable from a constitutionality standpoint (federalizing redistricting as an example), there is a good reason that the Biden Administration is not prioritizing this mess, and hopefully just like the similar Democrat wish list bills over the past few years, it will die when the next Congress takes over.  Gridlock is good!