Providing for the Closing of Executive Departments and Agencies of the Federal Government on December 24, 2019
Signed: December 17, 2019
Published: December 20, 2019
Document Number: 2019-27678
📋Summary
This executive order closes all federal executive departments and agencies on December 24, 2019, excusing most federal employees from duty that day. It affects executive-branch agencies and their employees, with exceptions for offices and staff needed for national security, defense, or other public needs. Agency heads can require certain employees to work if operations must remain open, and the Office of Personnel Management is directed to carry out the order. It also treats December 24 as a day covered by existing federal rules on employee pay and leave for this type of closure.
💼Business Impact
This order mainly affects businesses that rely on federal offices being open for time-sensitive transactions—government contractors, import/export and logistics firms (Customs/port operations and clearances), regulated industries needing filings/approvals (FDA, EPA, FCC, DOT), and companies with immigration/travel processing needs (USCIS/State Department touchpoints). Compliance impact is operational rather than regulatory: expect limited availability for submissions, inspections, hearings, permit processing, FOIA responses, and agency customer support on Dec. 24, with some national-security/public-need functions still operating. Businesses should immediately (1) move critical filings, bid submissions, and meeting/inspection requests off Dec. 24, (2) confirm which specific agency offices you depend on will remain open and adjust delivery/clearance timelines, and (3) update internal holiday staffing and customer commitments to avoid missed deadlines or service-level breaches.
Full Text
Executive Order 13900 of December 17, 2019
Providing for the Closing of Executive Departments and Agencies of the Federal Government on December 24, 2019
By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, it is hereby ordered as follows:
Section 1 . All executive departments and agencies of the Federal Government shall be closed and their employees excused from duty on Tuesday, December 24, 2019, the day before Christmas Day.
Sec. 2 . The heads of executive departments and agencies may determine that certain offices and installations of their organizations, or parts thereof, must remain open and that certain employees must report for duty on December 24, 2019, for reasons of national security, defense, or other public need.
Sec. 3 . December 24, 2019, shall be considered as falling within the scope of Executive Order 11582 of February 11, 1971, and of 5 U.S.C. 5546 and 6103(b) and other similar statutes insofar as they relate to the pay and leave of employees of the United States.
Sec. 4 . The Director of the Office of Personnel Management shall take such actions as may be necessary to implement this order.
Sec. 5 . General Provisions. (a) This order shall be implemented consistent with applicable law and subject to the availability of appropriations.
(b) Nothing in this order shall be construed to impair or otherwise affect:
(i) the authority granted by law to an executive department or agency, or the head thereof; or
(ii) the functions of the Director of the Office of Management and Budget relating to budgetary, administrative, or legislative proposals.
( printed page 69984)(c) This order is not intended to, and does not, create any right or benefit, substantive or procedural, enforceable at law or in equity by any party against the United States, its departments, agencies, or entities, its officers, employees, or agents, or any other person.
THE WHITE HOUSE,
December 17, 2019.