Constitution Day Rejected as Holiday

WASHINGTON — The House refused Tuesday to mark the bicentennial of the signing of the Constitution next year by giving federal workers the day off.

Opponents of the plan said the date, Sept. 17, can be celebrated without incurring the cost of a federal holiday. The bill to designate the day Constitution Day and make it a legal public holiday was rejected on a 240-130 vote. The Senate had approved the bill last week.

“There’s going to be plenty of celebrations in 1987. We don’t have to set aside a special day on which the taxpayers of the United States will pay special tribute to the bureaucrats of the United States by giving them a free day off with pay,” said Rep. Bill Frenzel (R-Minn.).

Rep. Robert Garcia (D-N.Y.), arguing for the bill, said the cost of the federal holiday would be “only $27 million. It seems to me that $27 million is a very small price to pay for what I consider to be a very significant day,” he said.