Rep. Grace Meng takes effort to recognize Lunar New Year as official holiday from New York to D.C.
NEW YORK -- As New Yorkers celebrate Lunar New Year, there's a renewed effort to make the celebration official.
Last week, Congresswoman Grace Meng reintroduced legislation to make it the 12th federal holiday. She is the first and only Asian member of Congress from New York State.
Meng first spoke with Cindy Hsu about the deadly shooting during Lunar New Year celebrations in Monterey Park, California, saying it was "devastating" to wake up to the tragedy.
"It's devastating that it happened on the holiday, the very night when people gather with their families and loved ones to celebrate," she said. "It's really important that we continue to stand strong and united together and keep all of them in our hearts and prayers."
They went on to discuss her hopes for the New Year, and why it's important to have it recognized as a federal holiday.
"A holiday is something that is not just about taking time off from school or from work. As we've seen here in New York with holidays like Lunar New Year and Eid that were added to the school holiday calendar, they are also teaching about these holidays and the culture and the people and the contributions of different diverse communities," said Meng.
Watch her full interview above for more.