Congress considers making St. Patrick's Day a federal holiday
H.R. 2119 — St. Patrick’s Day Act · Filed by Brian Fitzpatrick (R-PA) · 1 cosponsor · Introduced Mar 14, 2025 · Referred to committee
Your members of Congress
Enter a ZIP to see where your representative and both senators stood on this bill.
Looked up on this device — your ZIP is never stored on our servers.
What it does
This bill would designate St. Patrick's Day (March 17) as a federal holiday by amending title 5 of the U.S. Code. Federal employees would receive the day off with pay, and federal offices would close, similar to existing holidays like Washington's Birthday. The primary beneficiaries are federal workers and the general public who observe the holiday.
Why we flagged it
The bill's sole operative mechanism is to add St. Patrick's Day to the list of federal holidays in title 5, U.S. Code. It is a straightforward commemorative/observance measure with no hidden provisions or complex regulatory language.
What the text implies
- Federal office closures on March 17 may disrupt services (passport processing, Social Security, federal courts) unless agencies staff for holiday operations.
- Estimated annual cost to federal government: approximately $600M–$1B in paid leave for ~2.3M federal employees, plus operational overhead.
- May create scheduling conflicts for federal contractors and grantees who rely on federal office availability.
- Sets precedent for future holiday designation requests based on cultural/ethnic observance rather than historical/civic milestones.
Who it affects
Federal employees gain a paid day off, and the public gains a recognized federal holiday. However, the bill imposes costs on federal operations (closure of offices, paid leave for millions of employees) and may create scheduling burdens for federal services. The net civic benefit depends on whether the cultural/observance value outweighs operational disruption and cost.
Who stands to gain
- federal employees (paid leave benefit)
Named in the bill
U.S. House of Representatives, Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, Rep. Fitzpatrick, Title 5 U.S. Code, Federal employees
Where it stands
1 cosponsor: 1 Republicans.
- Mar 14, 2025 — Introduced · Congress.gov: “Introduced in House”
- Mar 14, 2025 — Referred to House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform · Congress.gov: “Referred to the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform”
Dates and quoted wording are Congress.gov's action record; the timeline shows status changes, not every procedural step.
How this was measured
Analysis — Quorum's AI scored this bill from its title only — the full text has not been read; transparency and hidden-provision scores are compared against the median of 16,222 analysed bills.
Status and sponsors — Congress.gov's bill record — actions, committee referrals and cosponsors — loaded nightly. The timeline shows status changes, not every procedural action.
As of — page rendered 2026-10-20.
“Congress considers making St. Patrick's Day a federal holiday” QuorumCivic. https://share.quorumcivic.app/bill/119/hr2119 Report an error
The week in bills
One email, Sunday: what Congress passed, what it changed, and who paid.
One link arrives to confirm the address. It is used for this email and nothing else, and every issue carries an unsubscribe link.