Federal employees will have an extra vacation day on Monday, Dec. 24 — Christmas Eve. In an executive order signed Tuesday night, President Trump announced that all federal employees will get the day off.
In recent years, federal workers have been given Monday off whenever Christmas Day falls on a Tuesday. President George W. Bush issued a similar executive order in 2001 and 2007, and President Barack Obama did the same in 2012. In 2014, Obama excused federal employees from work on Dec. 26, which fell on a Friday.
As is customary, the executive order says that some employees may be required to report to work “for reasons of national security, defense, or other public need.”
Agency heads also have the discretion to determine whether certain offices need to remain open on the holiday.
The order comes as federal workers face longer-term uncertainty about a less festive government shutdown. Even though Trump backed off his demand for $5 billion to pay for a wall on the Mexican border on Tuesday, Democrats and Republicans have yet to come to a budget deal with a deadline looming on Friday to find a compromise.
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