Trump Makes Christmas Eve, Dec. 26 Federal Holidays

Federal workers are set to receive an extended Christmas break this year. President Trump signed an executive order on Thursday granting federal employees paid leave on Dec. 24 and Dec. 26. With Christmas Day already a federal holiday, the order effectively closes most government offices from Wednesday through Friday next week, according to The Hill.

Agency heads may still require certain operations to remain open and can call in employees if necessary before or after Christmas.

President Trump has previously issued similar one-time holiday designations. In both 2019 and 2020, he made Christmas Eve an additional day off for federal workers. Other presidents have also extended holiday breaks in the past; President Obama, for example, granted federal employees Dec. 26 off in 2014 when it fell on a Friday.

The announcement follows a year in which President Trump has made several symbolic holiday proclamations. In May, he designated Nov. 11 and May 8 as national holidays recognizing Allied victories in World War I and World War II. Veterans Day continues to be observed on Nov. 11, with the White House clarifying that the World War I commemoration was added through a separate proclamation rather than a renaming of the existing holiday.

Despite previously criticizing the number of nonworking holidays in the United States, the additional days bring the total number of federal holidays this year to 13. These include New Year’s Day, Martin Luther King Jr. Day, Juneteenth, Independence Day, and Thanksgiving.

The extra Christmas-related days off are temporary. Any permanent change to the federal holiday calendar would require an act of Congress and a presidential signature, a process last used in 2021 when Juneteenth was established as a federal holiday under President Biden.

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