June 20, 2013

Ho, ho, ho: Obama gives feds Christmas Eve holiday

BY: ALAN BLINDER DECEMBER 21, 2012 | 1:44 PM
Leave a comment

Christmas has come early for tens of thousands of federal employees: President Obama has signed an executive order closing executive branch agencies on Christmas Eve.

The White House said Friday that Obama has approved a plan that will give all workers -- except essential employees -- a day away from the office on Monday.

Federal employees were already scheduled to have a holiday on Tuesday.

Christmas Day has been a holiday for all federal employees since 1968, though some classifications of federal workers have been able to take the day since 1870.

The National Taxpayers Union estimates that each federal holiday costs about $450 million, including the effects of lost productivity.

ablinder@washingtonexaminer.com

View article comments Leave a comment
Author:

Alan Blinder

Staff Reporter, D.C. City Hall
The Washington Examiner

More from washingtonexaminer.com

From the Weekly Standard

  • June 17, 1953

    Today, speaking at the Brandenburg Gate, President Obama paid appropriate tribute to the brave East Germans who rebelled 60 years ago against Communist dictatorship:

    Read More...
  • Problems of the Second Generation

    The Boston Marathon bombings highlighted, once again, the challenges of assimilating Muslim youth. And while the onus of accountability ought not rest exclusively on Muslim Americans, it...

    Read More...
  • Release Osama Bin Laden’s Files on Taliban

    The Obama administration announced on Tuesday that it was moving forward with its attempt to negotiate with the Taliban, which has opened a long-awaited political office in Doha, Qatar. The...

    Read More...