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GOP bill would punish cities that replaced Columbus Day celebrations

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A new House GOP proposal would deny funding to U.S. jurisdictions that celebrate Indigenous Peoples Day instead of Columbus Day.

This comes after President Donald Trump signed a proclamation last week declaring October 13 Columbus Day in honor of the famous explorer as well as the legacy of Italian-Americans across the United States.

“It’s about every son and daughter of Italy, every Knight of Columbus, every Sunday pasta dinner and every communion — everything that makes our culture what we are, from Philadelphia to San Francisco,” Rep. Michael Rulli, R-Ohio, told Fox News Digital in an interview.

“Every Little Italy neighborhood in this country celebrates Christopher Columbus. It’s more than the man. It’s the people.”

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Marchers in a Columbus Day parade

Protesters participate in the Columbus Day parade along Main Street in Huntington, New York on October 13, 2024. (James Carbone/Newsday RM via Getty Images)

Rulli’s new bill would both reaffirm Columbus Day as a federal holiday and punish cities and states that replaced its celebration with Indigenous Peoples’ Day.

“We are not going to allow any American municipality to think that it has power over the federal government,” he said.

In 2021, then-President Joe Biden officially recognized the second Monday in October as both Columbus Day and Indigenous Peoples’ Day.

The move was hailed by progressive activists and historians who saw Columbus as a harbinger of genocide against this country’s indigenous people, millions of whom were killed during American colonization.

Michael Rulli in Washington

Representative Michael Rulli speaks during a hearing at the House of Representatives in Washington, DC (Samuel Corum/Getty Images)

But Rulli argued that Columbus Day was about honoring the heritage of Italian Americans, pointing out that part of the motivation for its founding in 1892 was the extrajudicial lynching of 11 Italian Americans in New Orleans after the death of a local police chief.

He added that his legislation was not intended to undermine the importance of Native Americans — who he said deserve their own day of significance.

“I mean, Native Americans are some of the most amazing and vibrant cultural people that make up the fabric of America. But they need their own special day,” Rulli said. “And I would be willing to do that. I say right now, I would be willing to give indigenous people their own day, but not today.”

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President Donald Trump speaks to the media

President Donald Trump speaks with the media aboard Air Force One as he flies from Washington, DC to Israel, October 12, 2025. (Saul Loeb/AFP via Getty Images)

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He further accused the Biden administration of undermining the heritage of the two peoples by declaring both holidays on the same day, while praising Trump for restoring the original meaning of Columbus Day.

“It doesn’t matter what party you’re in…if you’re of Italian-American descent, you love what President Trump did. It was a wonderful olive branch to all Italian-Americans,” Rulli said.

“In no way is this bill intended to offend indigenous people. They deserve their own day. We will give them their own day, but not Columbus Day. This has already been ingrained in our fabric for 130 years,” he said.

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