These Republicans Voted Against Juneteenth. They Still Closed Their Offices On Friday.

WASHINGTON— Eight Republican members of the House of Representatives who voted against making Juneteenth a federal holiday appeared to give their staff Friday off anyway.

Congress passed a bill this week to commemorate the end of slavery and recognize June 19 as Juneteenth National Independence Day. The Senate passed S. 475 unanimously Tuesday and the House overwhelmingly voted in favor of the measure Wednesday, but 14 Republicans still voted against it. The bill was signed into law on Thursday by President Joe Biden, triggering a federal holiday for Friday, as Juneteenth falls this year on Saturday.

BuzzFeed News made calls to the offices of the 14 Republicans and visited each member’s office in DC, trying to open the doors.

The offices of Reps. Paul Gosar, Andy Biggs, Mo Brooks, Mike Rogers, Tom McClintock, Ralph Norman, Andrew Clyde, and Ronny Jackson had all closed for the day — even though they voted against making Juneteenth a holiday.

But for the last minute declaration of a national holiday those offices would have been filled with bustling interns and congressional staff. Instead the marbled halls of the Capitol were mostly empty. Transom windows showed no signs of office activity and “CLEANING NOT REQUIRED” door tags lined the corridor.