Lawmakers in Chicago failed to pass a measure in the legislature Tuesday to recognize the 44th U.S. President Barack Obama's birthday on Aug. 4 as a state holiday. The measure received 54 votes but was short of six that would have enabled it to be approved and sent to the Senate, the Chicago Tribune reported.

About a dozen of House members did not vote for the bill. Rep. Sonya Harper, D-Chicago, who was sponsoring the measure said: "President Barack Obama, he did great work for the state of Illinois and our country, and I believe we need to do our part in preserving that history."

The bill text stated: "The fourth day of August of each year shall be a legal holiday to be known as Barack Obama's Birthday to be observed as a day on which to hold appropriate exercises in commemoration of our illustrious President. When August fourth shall fall on a Sunday, the following Monday shall be held and considered the holiday."

However, the Republican floor leader Steven Andersson said that the state of Illinois did not have enough money to give their state workers another paid day off. He also mentioned that even Obama would not want that to happen. "The concept you are working on here, giving President Obama a day, I think is deserved. I think it's appropriate, but I have a couple of questions about how we are doing it," said Andersson, the Tribune reported.

Harper originally filed the bill on Jan. 20. She used a procedure to keep the bill alive and will try to garner more support for it. She hopes that the legislation will reconsider the bill once there are more backers for it.

The ones opposing the bill also mentioned that other presidents from the state have not been honored with a day in their name, including President Ronald Reagan.

Earlier in February, Democratic lawmakers in Chicago also tried to pass a legislation to name a long stretch of Interstate 55 in Illinois after former President Barack Obama as the Barack Obama Expressway.

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