Representing the 12th District of California
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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Wednesday, January 21, 2009
Statement from the Joint Congressional Committee on Inaugural Ceremonies
Washington, DC ‐‐ The 56th Inaugural Swearing‐in Ceremony was the largest event in
Washington, DC history. Months of planning by the staffs of the U.S. Senate, House of
Representatives, the Office of the Architect of the Capitol, the U.S. Capitol Police, and the
United States Secret Service resulted in an extraordinarily successful and peaceful event that
was enjoyed by well more than a million people.
The Joint Congressional Committee on Inaugural Ceremonies deeply regrets that some ticket
holders to the ceremonies were not able to get to their ticketed sections, primarily in the
purple and blue zones. The number of tickets issued for these sections was based on historic
precedent, and calculations of the number of guests that could safely be accommodated in
each area.
Many of the problems appear to have been due to the unprecedented crowds, and a huge flow
of unticketed people toward the U.S. Capitol and into the 3rd Street Tunnel from the National
Mall, after it had reached capacity very early that morning and was closed to additional
unticketed entries.
The JCCIC, U.S. Capitol Police and our federal and local partners will thoroughly examine every
aspect of our planning including ticketing, screening, pedestrian flows, gate numbers and
placement, to provide a foundation of lessons learned to future inaugural planners, so that they
have the information they need to prevent similar problems.
We realize how important this inauguration was to so many people and the difficulties they
endured to get here, so once again we deeply apologize to those guests who were not
admitted.
Fund the GAO for more accountability
On Wednesday, January 14, I sat down with two officials from the Government Accountability Office (GAO), Gene Dodaro, Acting Comptroller General and Ralph Dawn, Managing Director of Congressional Relations.
You may be asking, “Why would anyone care about the...(more)