U.S. President Donald Trump on the 18th (local time) signed an executive order designating the two days around Christmas, Dec. 25, as federal department and agency holidays.
As a result, employees of federal departments and agencies are also exempt from work obligations on the 24th and 26th, and many federal government employees not classified as essential in areas such as security and public safety are expected to be off for three days.
However, the heads of each department and agency may determine whether certain divisions and employees will work as needed for national security or defense.
There have been instances in the past where U.S. presidents designated about a day around Christmas as a holiday for federal employees. In his first term, in 2019 and 2020, President Trump exempted federal employees from working on Christmas Eve (the 24th), and former President Barack Obama designated the day after Christmas (the 26th) in 2014 as a holiday for federal employees.
However, designating both the 24th and the 26th as holidays is regarded as a somewhat unusual step.
Some say that as support for Trump's economic policies across his first and second terms hits record lows, he is hastily rolling out economic measures aimed at eliciting an immediate public response.
Earlier, in a national address the previous day, President Trump said, "We will provide 'warrior dividends' of $1,776 (about 2.6 million won) to 1.45 million service members before Christmas."