12 surprising facts about the Inauguration
The cost of Obama's first Inauguration?
Credit: Saul Loeb/AFP/Getty Images
Rich donors and the U.S. government spent $170 million on the last Inauguration, according to ABC News reporting from 2009, during one of the country's worst ever economic recessions. That year the Joint Congressional Committee on Inaugural Ceremonies – the government body responsible for planning the ceremony itself and the luncheon (but not the parade, concert or any of the balls) – had a budget of $1.24 million. This year they've cut back to $1.237 million, according to a JCCIC spokesman. Some of the costs associated with the 2009 inauguration included a Bruce Springsteen concert, the parade, large-screen TV rentals for all-free viewing on the national Mall, $700,000 to the Smithsonian Institution to stay open and 10 balls, including three free or at low cost for the public. This time around, the president has lifted the voluntary $50,000 limit on donations to the Presidential Inaugural Committee, allowing corporations and individuals to give up to $250,000.
