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U.S. Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) was "proud" legislation he co-sponsored that designated Juneteenth, or freedom day, as a national holiday officially became law when President Joe Biden signed the bill into law on June 17.
The bill passed the U.S. Senate just two days prior.
"Happy that my bill to recognize Juneteenth as a national holiday just passed the Senate," Cornyn wrote in a tweet on June 15. "It has been a state holiday in Texas for more than 40 years. Now more than ever, we need to learn from our history and continue to form a more perfect union."
Yahoo! News reported Cornyn worked with U.S. Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee (D-Houston) on the legislation, which has 18 GOP co-sponsors. The bill was first introduced in the midst of heightened racial tensions across the country in the wake of George Floyd's murder. At the time, it failed to gain support or the momentum needed to move forward, but a year later it's now a federal holiday.
"Acknowledging and learning from the mistakes of the past is critical to making progress and becoming a more perfect union," Cornyn tweeted.
After it passed the Senate the legislation was sent to the U.S. House of Representatives where it was approved with an overwhelming majority.
"America is the greatest nation on earth, but we are not perfect. We strive to be a more perfect union. Now that President Biden has signed this into law, #Juneteenth is officially a national holiday," Cornyn said in a post on his Twitter page.
Several companies including Nike, JCPenney and Target have already made Juneteenth a paid holiday, according to NPR.
NPR also reported Juneteenth commemorates Union Maj. Gen. Gordon Granger's arrival in Galveston on June 19, 1865, with former President Abraham Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation.
It's commemorated each year on that very day.