Biden signed an executive order to officially announce a National Day of Mourning and a one-day closure of federal agencies and departments.
Federal agencies will be closed on Thursday, Jan. 9, in honor of the passing of President Jimmy Carter, who died on Dec. 29 at the age of 100.
President Joe Biden signed an executive order on Monday to officially announce a National Day of Mourning and a one-day closure of federal agencies and departments. The executive order tells agency heads to prepare for the upcoming closure.
“All executive departments and agencies of the federal government shall be closed on January 9, 2025, as a mark of respect for James Earl Carter, Jr., the thirty-ninth President of the United States,” Biden wrote in the executive order.
The funeral for the former president will be held on the same day next week.
In the executive order, Biden authorized the Office of Personnel Management to take necessary actions to implement next week’s office closure. Some federal departments and offices, however, will remain open at the discretion of agency leadership for national security, defense and other essential services.
Several agencies shared public sentiments upon the news of Carter’s death on Sunday. The Council of the Inspectors General on Integrity and Efficiency recognized the former president’s important contribution of creating federal inspectors general offices in 1978.
“We recognize President Carter for his leadership in helping to create IGs as we know them today,” CIGIE Chairperson Mark Lee Greenblatt said in a statement. “Forty-six years later, the IG Act continues to fulfill its promise of protecting federal dollars from waste, fraud and abuse. Federal IGs will continue to strive to improve the economy, efficiency and effectiveness of federal programs and operations, in support of President Carter’s vision and legacy.”
The National Archives has also opened a special temporary exhibit to honor Carter. Members of the public will be able to sign a condolence book near the exhibit. The book will be gifted to the Carter family.
“We mourn former President Carter together and honor his legacy,” National Archivist Colleen Shogan said in a statement. “A humanitarian and champion of democracy, Carter spent his life bringing people together to solve global problems with peaceful solutions.”
Prior to Carter’s death, the most recent death of a president occurred in 2018 with the passing of President George H.W. Bush at the age of 94. At the time, President Donald Trump closed federal agencies for a day on Dec. 5, 2018, in honor of the former president’s passing.
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Drew Friedman is a workforce, pay and benefits reporter for Federal News Network.
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