In addition, there was a federal holiday on February 22nd to commemorate the birth of our first president, George Washington. Then came the meddling from the great fathers in Washington, D.C. who wanted to give the nation s grand bureaucracy yet another three day weekend from the toils of labor. And so it came to pass that the federal holiday would be celebrated on the third Monday of each February. The name, unfortunately stuck for ever more. Now the nation s memory has been erased.
Bureaucrats don t much care.
They get more days off and President s Day now seemingly honors all the nation s presidents, even Bill Clinton and Richard Nixon. All was going well. Liberals and Conservatives, Republicans and Democrats supported the legislation. Bartlett particularly wanted the legislation in place in time for the 200th anniversary of Washington s death on December 14, 1999. Hastert immediately dropped the bill and stopped floor action.