WASHINGTON – Today U.S. Senator John Cornyn (R-TX) tried to call up and pass his bill to make Juneteenth a federal holiday before it was blocked by another Senator. Excerpts from Sen. Cornyn’s floor speech today are below, and you can watch video here.
“In Texas, we’ve recognized Juneteenth as a state holiday for forty years — forty years — obviously because of the fact that this occurred as a result of the Emancipation Proclamation being announced in Galveston, Texas.”
“I recently cosponsored a bill with Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee to study a trail, basically, from Galveston to Houston as a possible designation of a national park in further recognition of this event.”
“We’ve come so far but we know we still have farther to go, and I do believe that the appropriate word to use is reconciliation. This is an opportunity for us to demonstrate our concern, our commitment to equal justice and equal treatment under the law by recognizing Juneteenth as a federal holiday.”