Today we celebrate MLK day, remembering the work and sacrifices made not only by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr; but all the activists who tirelessly supported him in the fight for equal rights. Today many politicians will make statements on Dr. King and his legacy (for some, merely an opportunity to gain the ‘Black’ vote), so be aware of the current congressmen who actually voted against making MLK a federal holiday. Find out exactly who, below (via yahoo).

By Alexander Aplerku, AFROPUNK Contributor

New House Majority Whip Steve Scalise, a Republican from Louisiana, came under fire last month for having voted twice against a state version of the holiday while serving in the local legislature. (The votes were unearthed as part of a larger story about a previously unreported speech Scalise delivered at a 2002 conference sponsored by a white-supremacist group.) Because many states took decades after the federal decision to implement MLK Day, Scalise’s votes against the holiday came late: He was one of six Louisiana statehouse members to vote against the holiday in 2004 and one of three to vote against it in 1999.

But Scalise is not the only lawmaker still in office — nor the only prominent politician — to have opposed the holiday. When the House voted 338-90 in August 1983 to establish Martin Luther King Jr. Day, several members who would go on to become U.S. senators also voted “no.”Two current U.S. senators voted against the holiday during their time as representatives in the House: former GOP presidential nominee John McCain of Arizona and Sen. Richard Shelby of Alabama. And four other men who went on to join the Senate (though they have now left it) opposed is as well: Jim Jeffords of Vermont, Judd Gregg of New Hampshire, Larry Craig of Idaho and Phil Gramm of Texas.

Current House Appropriations Committee Chairman Hal Rogers (R-Ky.) also voted against the MLK Day measure. Interestingly, so did Rep. Jim Sensenbrenner of Wisconsin, who decades later would emerge as the top Republican advocate in defense of the Voting Rights Act.

In October 1983, the Senate voted 78-22 in favor of establishing MLK Day, sending the bill to President Ronald Reagan’s desk. Current senators serving then who voted against the legislation include Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley of Iowa and Senate Finance Committee Chairman Orrin Hatch of Utah.

Most of the other notable opponents of the holiday have since left office, such as Republican Sen. Frank Murkowski of Alaska (current Sen. Lisa Murkowski’s father), former GOP presidential candidate Barry Goldwater of Arizona and Sen. Jesse Helms of North Carolina.