Biden inauguration ceremony crowd size details were just released. So who can attend?
President-elect Joe Biden’s inauguration ceremony will have limited attendance that “resembles the State of the Union,” the committee in charge of planning the event announced Wednesday.
Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris will be sworn in Jan. 20, 2021, at the U.S. Capitol. Planning is underway for the ceremony and festivities, which officials have long said will look different this year due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Few specifics about the scaled-down events have been released, but on Wednesday, the Joint Congressional Committee on Inaugural Ceremonies outlined attendance guidelines for the ceremony.
Tickets will be limited to members of the 117th Congress and one guest each, according to the committee. That’s roughly 1,000 people.
Normally, members of Congress would distribute 200,000 tickets to their constituents.
“The JCCIC, in consultation with diversified public health and medical experts and the Presidential Inaugural Committee, has determined that this global pandemic and the rise in COVID-19 cases warranted a difficult decision to limit attendance at the 59th Inaugural Ceremonies to a live audience that resembles a State of the Union,” Committee Chairman Roy Blunt, a Republican senator from Missouri, said in the statement.
Blunt said the committee is working on “enhanced opportunities to watch the ceremonies online.” They will also be televised.
“While the pandemic has forced us to limit in-person attendance, it also brings us opportunities to honor our democracy in innovative ways so that Americans across the country can experience Inauguration Day from home,” Sen. Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota said in the statement.
Lawmakers will be able to distribute commemorative ticket bundles and programs to their constituents after the ceremonies, another statement from the committee says.
On Tuesday, Biden’s Presidential Inaugural Committee urged Americans to avoid traveling for inauguration-related activities and to watch from home, The Hill reported.
Organizers said the event will include strict safety protocols with a “reimagined parade” due to the pandemic.
Inaugural events have “grown and changed” but typically include a procession to the Capitol, the swearing-in ceremony and address and a luncheon, among other traditions, according to the JCCIC.
Earlier this month, Rep. Jim Clyburn, co-chairperson of Biden’s committee, told CNN to expect inauguration festivities to be 75% to 80% virtual.
“If anybody saw the Democratic convention I think you saw a bit of what you will see for the inauguration,” Clyburn said on CNN.
He said the inauguration will be an “example” of what Biden would “like to see the American people do.”
“We are going to say to people ‘Please follow our example,’” he told CNN.
This story was originally published December 16, 2020 at 1:39 PM with the headline "Biden inauguration ceremony crowd size details were just released. So who can attend?."
