Sen. Eric Schmitt of Missouri introduced the Easter Monday Act of 2025, calling the move pro-faith, pro-worker, and pro-family.
WASHINGTON, D.C. (LifeSiteNews) -- Missouri Republican Senator Eric Schmitt is seeking to ensure that the Monday after Easter becomes a national holiday.
Schmitt announced on social media that he has introduced legislation that would designate Easter Monday a federal holiday.
“This isn't a radical idea. It's a federal recognition of a tradition that is central to Western civilization – a tradition that's already recognized as a public holiday in nations across (and beyond!) the West, including Canada, Australia, New Zealand and most of Western Europe,” Schmitt said on X.
Schmitt was elected to the U.S. Senate in 2022, where he serves alongside current U.S. Senator Josh Hawley. He was previously a member of the Missouri state Senate from 2009 until 2017. He has filled other prominent roles at the state level as well, including state attorney general.
Though he has a generally pro-life record, the Missouri senator supports embryo-destroying in vitro fertilization (IVF).
READ: Bishop Strickland, pro-life leaders criticize Trump’s ‘tragic’ IVF executive order
Schmitt, 49, says he introduced the Easter Monday Act of 2025 for religious but also practical reasons.
“Our current holiday schedule makes it way too difficult for families to celebrate together,” he said. “Easter falls on the longest unbroken work stretch of the calendar. (March and April are the only back-to-back months without a federal holiday).”
Schmitt continued: “We already have a ‘National Day of Prayer,’ signed into law by Missouri's own President Truman. A federal Easter Monday holiday allows Americans to celebrate the most extraordinary day in world history, Easter – the day of Christ’s resurrection.”
Schmitt also noted that more than 75 percent of Americans celebrate Easter and that many schools used to give students Good Friday and Easter Monday off.
“An Easter Monday holiday … [creates] a three-day weekend when workers and families need it most,” he said, while describing the move as pro-worker, pro-family, and pro-faith. “Easter weekend already generates around $15 billion for our economy. Making it a three-day weekend could boost that by an estimated 10-15%, adding up to $2 billion in economic activity while strengthening American families."
Schmitt emphasized that his bill is “not partisan” but rather “an American” issue that would allow for “a fuller celebration of the defining moment of the faith that shaped our nation and civilization.”
