Holiday Shows U.S. Government Can Be Fast When It Wants to Close

Postal Service to remain open; other agencies closed Friday
Millions of workers received unexpected three-day weekend

WATCH: The measure to establish the Juneteenth National Independence Day passed the U.S. House by a vote 415-14 yesterday, a day after it cleared the Senate by unanimous consent. (Source: Bloomberg)

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By Susan Decker, Ari Natter, and Todd Shields

June 17, 2021 at 9:43 PM UTC

Updated on

June 18, 2021 at 4:10 PM UTC

This article is for subscribers only.

The mail is coming, but the Pentagon is closed and parents in Washington D.C. were left with no daycare as the nation adapted to a sudden holiday.

Across the federal government, agencies struggled to determine who would and wouldn’t be working on Friday and employees had to adjust to an unexpected three-day weekend as President Joe Biden signed legislation making Juneteenth the first new federal holiday in nearly four decades -- one day before the holiday was to take effect.