WASHINGTON (AP) — Quick quiz. What is George Washington's birthday?
The official U.S. government answer is the third Monday in February, the day you can get a car or mattress on sale.
Lawmakers and witnesses at a House hearing on Wednesday favored giving the first president his birthday back. They agreed that the federal holiday should be restored to Washington's real birthday of Feb. 22.
Through 1970, most Americans knew Washington's birthday because that was the holiday. In 1971, the celebration was moved to the third Monday of the month and became known as Presidents Day.
Republican Rep. Frank Wolf of Virginia, the chief sponsor of the bill to change the holiday, asked at Wednesday's hearing who celebrates a birthday on the third Monday of a month. Nobody's hand went up.
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