[Congressional Record Volume 167, Number 105 (Wednesday, June 16, 2021)]
[Senate]
[Page S4580]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                               Juneteenth

  Mr. CORNYN. Mr. President, yesterday, the Senate moved a historic 
bill one step closer to President Biden's desk. The Senate unanimously 
passed legislation to finally make Juneteenth a Federal holiday and to 
preserve the legacy of that momentous day for generations to come.
  For more than a century, Texans have celebrated Juneteenth and 
commemorated the anniversary of the day slaves in Texas were first 
informed of the news that they were, indeed, free. President Lincoln 
issued the Emancipation Proclamation on January 1, 1863, but the news 
didn't reach Texas for 2\1/2\ years, until June 19, 1865.
  We were the first State to make Juneteenth a holiday and, of course, 
it commemorates an event that occurred in Galveston, TX. But over the 
last four decades, many other States have joined us.
  It is finally time to recognize Juneteenth as a national holiday. I 
reintroduced this bipartisan bill with the Senator from Massachusetts, 
Senator Markey, this year, and I have been proud to work alongside my 
fellow Texan Congresswoman, Sheila Jackson Lee, in the House to get the 
bill passed and signed into law. The bill now heads to the House and 
according to Congressman Steny Hoyer, the House will actually pass it 
today.
  I will have more to say about the history and significance of 
Juneteenth tomorrow, but for now, I want to thank the dozens of 
Senators on both sides of the aisle who have supported this effort. I 
think, particularly now at this point in our Nation's history, a little 
reconciliation can go a long way.
  It is also an opportunity to learn from our past. America is the 
greatest Nation in the world, but we are not perfect and, indeed, the 
original sin of slavery when this country was created has caused this 
country a lot of angst, death, and injustice over the years. We fought 
a civil war, and 600,000 Americans died. If you extrapolated that to 
current population, that would be like 3 million Americans dying.
  Of course, we went through the civil rights movement in the sixties, 
and, of course, the latest manifestation of racial strife is the 
unfortunate killing of people like George Floyd and the lack of trust 
that exists between some law enforcement and the communities that they 
serve.
  While America is not perfect, we continue to do the work to strive to 
be ``a more perfect Union,'' in the words of the Constitution