The inauguration of President-electJoe Bidenas the 46th president on Wednesday will be like no other in U.S. history.
Biden is expected to follow the traditional swearing-in at the U.S. Capitol around noon with former presidents, Congress,A-list celeb performersand honors for the military — but the audience will be greatly pared down due tonovel coronavirusprotections coupled with massive post-insurrection security measures to ward against possible violence following the deadly riots at the Capitol on Jan. 6.
Crowds of tourists have been asked to stay away and in their stead areupwards of 25,000 National Guardsoldiers protecting the heart of the nation’s capital.
Inaugural events, which start at 10:30 a.m. ET, will stream live onhttps://BidenInaugural.org/watchand elsewhere online includingYouTube,Facebook,TwitterandTwitch.
ABC, CBS, CNN, MSNBC, NBC and PBS will carry the inauguration ceremonies live.
What is happening first?
Biden woke up on the morning of his inauguration at the historic Blair House, across the street from the White House, after departing his home state of Delaware on Tuesday along with incoming First Lady Dr. Jill Biden.
He first attended church services Wednesday morning with Vice President-electKamala Harrisand Democratic and Republican congressional leaders around the same time that departing PresidentDonald Trumpwas making his final speech before boarding Air Force One to leave Washington, D.C., for Florida.
Biden, Harris and their families will arrive at the Capitol for the inauguration ceremonies at 10:30 a.m. ET, according to his office.
President Joe Biden and First Lady Dr. Jill Biden attend Mass at the Cathedral of St. Matthew the Apostle in Washington, D.C., in January.JIM WATSON/AFP/Getty
How many will be at the inauguration?
A familiar theme of inaugurations past — crowd size — will be much downplayed this year, as the number of guests has been pared way back due to the pandemic and is expected to hover around 1,000, including Congress.
In past years the Joint Congressional Committee on Inaugural Ceremonies wouldtraditionally offer 200,000 ticketsfor the ceremonies at the Capitol and ticket bundles for members of Congress to give to constituents. This year tickets are limited to each member of Congress getting two, for themselves and a guest, according to the JCCIC.
Who will be there?
Former PresidentsBarack Obamaand Bill Clintonwill be joining former President George W. Bushat the inauguration as well as former First LadiesMichelle Obama, Laura Bush and Hillary Clinton.
Former President Jimmy Carter, 96, and former first lady Rosalyn Carter, 93,have announcedthey willnot be attending. Prior to this year, President Carter had attended every inauguration since being sworn-in himself in 1977.
Others likely to attend the inauguration include Supreme Court justices and outgoing Vice PresidentMike Pence.
What about Trump?
President Trump won’t be there,the first outgoing president in 152 yearsto refuse to attend his successor’s inauguration.
The president and First LadyMelania Trumpleft D.C. on Wednesday morningto fly to their Palm Beach resort, Mar-a-Lago, before Biden will be sworn in.
The Trumps did not meet with the Bidens ahead of the inauguration, breaking with tradition, though President Trumpreportedly leftthe customary letter for his successor in the Oval Office.
What is the swearing-in schedule?
The inaugural committee said coverage of the ceremonies begins at 10:30 a.m. at the west front of the Capitol.
Starting off the ceremony, the Rev. Leo O’Donovan, a Jesuit priest and longtime close Biden family friend, isexpected to deliver the invocation prayer.
O’Donovan, a former president of Georgetown University, gave the homily at thefuneral of Biden’s eldest son, Beau, who died of brain cancer in 2015.
Andrea Hall, the first African-American female firefighter to serve as captain of the City of South Fulton, Georgia’s Fire Rescue Department, will deliver the Pledge of Allegiance.
From left: Lady Gaga, President-elect Joe Biden and Jennifer Lopez.Neilson Barnard/Getty; Laura Cavanaugh/FilmMagic; Alexander Tamargo/Getty
Lady Gagawill be singing the National Anthem and thenAmanda Gorman, 22, the youngest inaugural poet in U.S. history and the country’s first National Youth Poet Laureate, will be reading the poem she wrote for the event, “The Hill We Climb.”
Jennifer Lopezwill be presenting a “musical performance” andGarth Brooks, who performed at Obama’s inauguration in 2009, will also perform.
Rev. Silvester Beaman, pastor of Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Wilmington, Delaware,will give the benediction.
Who is swearing in Harris?
Around noon, Justice Sonia Sotomayor, who swore-in Biden as vice president in 2013,will swear in Harris, the first woman in U.S. history to hold the office of vice president.
ABC Newsreportedthat Harris, 56, personally requested Sotomayor, 66, to be the justice presiding over the historic ceremony.
Harriswill be sworn in using two Bibleswith much personal meaning. One belonged to her hero, the late Supreme Court justice Thurgood Marshall, the other to longtime family friend Regina Shelton.
Who is swearing in Biden?
The court’s chief justice, John Roberts Jr., will swear in Biden, as is customary for the president,NPR reports. Noon is the deadline in the Constitution when Trump’s term ends.
When Roberts administers the presidential oath of office,Biden will have his handon top of a five-inch-thick bible that has been in the Biden family since 1893.
Joe and Jill Biden.Brooks Kraft LLC/Getty Images
Incoming President Biden told Colbert that the oversized Bible has “been a family heirloom on the Biden side of the family, and every important date is in there. For example, every time I’ve been sworn in for anything, the date has been on that and is inscribed on the Bible.”
What happens after the swearing in?
Biden will deliver his first presidential address, “laying out his vision to defeat the pandemic … and unify and heal the nation,” according to the Presidential Inaugural Committee.
Around 1:40 p.m., Biden, Harris and their spouses will then conduct a traditional review of military troops called a Pass in Review, meant to reflect the peaceful transfer of power, the Presidential Inaugural Committee said in a statement.
After the wreath ceremony, the Bidens, Harris and her husband, incoming Second Gentleman Doug Emhoff, will receive an in-person presidential escort to the White House that will feature every branch of the military, including the U.S. Army Band, a Joint Service Honor Guard, and the Commander-in-Chief’s Guard and Fife and Drum Corps from the 3rd U.S. Infantry “The Old Guard.”
The procession will include the University of Delaware Drumline and the Howard University Drumline from the alma maters of Biden and Harris.
Instead of the traditional in-person inaugural parade, a televised virtual “Parade Across America"will begin around 3:15 p.m.and feature scores of performers and community heroes from all 50 states and several U.S. territories.
From left: Dr. Jill Biden, Joe Biden and Kamala Harris at a memorial for COVID-19 victims on Tuesday in Washington, D.C.Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images
Will Biden get right to work?
Yes. After the inaugural events, Biden begins a wide-reaching reversal of Donald Trump’s anti-immigration policies along with other “day one” presidential moves,reports theThe New York Times. This will include sending legislation to Congress to allow children who grew up in the U.S. but arrived here illegally and who are recipients of Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, also known as “Dreamers,” to apply for legal and permanent residency and eventually have the right to become citizens. The legislation will also include restoring programs for asylum seekers as well as beefing up security at the border with enhanced technology, according to theTimes.
How about those glitzy nighttime festivities?
The show airs at 8:30 p.m. ET and will be carried live on ABC, CBS, CNN, MSNBC, NBC and PBS. It will also stream live onhttps://BidenInaugural.org/watchand on Presidential Inaugural Committee social media channels across Facebook, Twitter, Youtube and other platforms — and will include remarks from Biden and Harris.
The special will also “celebrate American heroes who are helping their fellow Americans” through the coronavirus crisis, “including frontline workers, health care workers, teachers, citizens giving back, and those who are breaking barriers,” the Presidential Inaugural Committee said.
source: people.com
