While the covid pandemic has created uncertainty as to which traditions and festivities will mark President-elect Joe Biden’s Inauguration Day, a top aide to DC Mayor Muriel Bowser says an inaugural parade is likely to take place.
John Falcicchio, who serves as Bower’s chief of staff and deputy mayor for planning and economic development, told the Washington Business Journal yesterday that the January 2021 ceremonies are expected to include a traditional promenade—though many details still need to be worked out.
“It’s a little too early to tell what [the day’s events] will look like,” Falcicchio said. “But the inauguration always reflects the person being inaugurated and their team, and this one will be no different.”
Among the most crucial questions left to be answered is what steps the event’s organizers will take to protect attendees from contracting the virus. This morning, Politico’s Playbook had some reporting about the Joint Congressional Committee on Inaugural Ceremonies, which has purview over inauguration events that take place on the capital grounds.
The committee’s chairman, Missouri Republican Senator Roy Blunt, met Thursday with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, and other senior lawmakers. “They discussed masks, testing and spacing,” according to Politico. “They also spoke about mandatory testing for anyone on the podium near President-elect Joe Biden. Also at issue: where to hold the traditional inaugural lunch. The POTUS/VP lunch is typically in Statuary Hall. They may move it to Emancipation Hall in the Capitol Visitors Center for more space.”
“To start, this event will be smaller than previous inaugurations, but by how much, we don’t know,” Politico reported.
Though many details of the day itself remain unclear, right-wing protestors are already making their plans.
Among the five organizations that have filed paperwork with the National Park Service for permits to demonstrate on federal property around Inauguration Day, according to WTOP, is “a 300-person protest by organizers of Roar for Trump” and an organization called Women for a Great America, which “is requesting access to the White House sidewalk and Lafayette Park for a 250-person event, where they plan to ‘pray for President Trump.’ ”
Luke Mullins is a senior writer at Washingtonian magazine focusing on the people and institutions that control the city’s levers of power. He has written about the Koch Brothers’ attempt to take over The Cato Institute, David Gregory’s ouster as moderator of NBC’s Meet the Press, the collapse of Washington’s Metro system, and the conflict that split apart the founders of Politico.
