EO-14371
Providing for the Closing of Executive Departments and Agencies of the Federal Government on December 24, 2025, and December 26, 2025
- Signed
- Dec 18, 2025
- Published
- Dec 23, 2025
Federal Register: 2025-23847
Source: Federal Register.
Federal Employees Get December 24 and 26, 2025 Off Work
Impact2/10
What it does
This order closes all executive branch departments and agencies on Wednesday, December 24, and Friday, December 26, 2025 — the days immediately before and after Christmas Day. Federal employees are excused from duty on both days, with pay and leave treatment equivalent to a federal holiday. Agency heads retain the authority to require certain employees to report for work if national security, defense, or other public needs demand it.
Who benefits
Federal civilian employees across all executive branch agencies, who receive two additional paid days off. Federal employee unions and worker advocacy groups who support expanded paid leave. Employees' families who gain extended holiday time together. Federal contractors whose agency points of contact are unavailable, potentially easing scheduling pressure around the holiday period.
Who is affected
Members of the public who need federal services on December 24 or 26 and will find agencies closed. Small businesses and individuals with time-sensitive federal transactions, permits, or filings due around those dates. Federal employees in national security, defense, or essential roles who may still be required to report. Taxpayers who bear the cost of paying federal employees for two additional non-working days.
Supporters argue
Supporters argue that granting federal employees the days flanking Christmas Day is a routine and longstanding exercise of presidential workforce management authority, consistent with decades of similar orders issued by presidents of both parties. They contend it boosts employee morale and productivity at minimal cost, and that the president's broad constitutional and statutory authority over the executive branch clearly encompasses scheduling decisions for federal workers.
Opponents argue
Opponents argue that closing the federal government for two additional days imposes real costs on taxpayers and disrupts services for members of the public who depend on federal agencies. They contend that recurring use of executive orders to grant extra holidays — rather than seeking congressional action to formally add them to the federal holiday calendar — bypasses the legislative process and sets a precedent for expanding federal employee benefits unilaterally.
Constitutional basis
Executive orders rest on constitutional authority or statutory delegation. This summary describes the legal grounding cited or implied by the order.
The order cites the president's general Article II authority to manage the executive branch, including the Take Care Clause (Article II, §3). It also invokes specific statutory authority: 5 U.S.C. §5546 and §6103(b), which govern federal employee pay and leave on holidays, and Executive Order 11582 (1971), which established the framework for holiday scheduling for federal employees.