Obama's Birthday Will Become An Official Holiday If Illinois Lawmakers Have Their Way
Before he could even finish out his term, then President Barack Obama had most of America experiencing major withdrawal symptoms. He left office with a 59 percent approval according to a Gallup poll boasting some pretty amazing accomplishments including: affordable health care, cutting the national deficit to 3.2 pefcent in 2016, and granting clemency to more deserving inmates than any other sitting president.
The Trump administration would just as soon erase all remnants of Obama's legacy, but Illinois lawmakers want to keep the love fest going. They want to make August 4, Obama's birthday, a recognized state holiday. Now that he is no longer in office, there is a strong possibility that it could happen.
Three bills have been penned for consideration. Democratic House Representatives Andre Thapedi and Sonya Harper have each proposed legislation that pushes for a legal holiday. This means that the government offices would close for the day. Schools and businesses would have the option to either close, have abbreviated hours, or remain open.
Thapedi is excited about the possibility offering that Obama is, "an adopted son of the state, a Nobel Prize winner, a two-term president and the first African-American president" and "kids are out of school in August, anyway, so it won't cause any problems there," he said according to the Chicago Tribune.
The other bill has been proposed in the Senate which is co-sponsored by Senator Jacqueline Collins-D where the holiday would be commemorative. In other words, government, schools, and businesses would remain open and the day would just be in recognition of the 44th president's birth. The state is facing financial and budgetary challenges and the bill Collins proposes would be a compromise for both agendas.
Last year, Thapedi's bill lost traction and never made it out of the House due to objections that a sitting president would receive this honor. Governor Bruce Raumer-R argued against it citing state costs of $3.2 million in salary for workers to enjoy a paid day off. An even greater concern was the loss of productivity as Illinois stood to "lose $16 million in productivity from state workers having a paid, non-working holiday."
The opposing positions seem to mimic the even more combative posture that Democrats and Republicans have taken since Trump was inducted. Collins is hoping that Republicans will focus on Obama's many achievements and let the people of Illinois have their day. "I hope we don't descend to what we see at the federal level," Collins said. "As a Democrat, I have no problem honoring President Lincoln. There should be reciprocity between parties, Obama belongs to Illinois, and Illinois belongs to all people, Republicans and Democrats."
Judging by the feuding that is going on in Congress right now, let's hope that the states can demonstrate what democracy should really look like. It's just a birthday, gotta start somewhere.
