Joint Congressional Committee on Inaugural Ceremonies

Floor Speech

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Mr. BLUNT. Mr. President, on January 20, the world watched as we inaugurated the 46th President of the United States on the west front of the Capitol, as we have done now for the last four decades. But this was the 59th time in our Nation's history that we have gathered to witness one of what has really become one of our most iconic and sacred ceremonies. I described it that day, as President Reagan did 40 years earlier, as ``commonplace and miraculous.'' Commonplace because we have done it every 4 years since 1789; miraculous because we have done it every 4 years since 1789.

This is the second time I have had the privilege to serve as the chairman of the Joint Congressional Committee on Inaugural Ceremonies or, as it is normally known, JCCIC, and that is how I will refer to it in the rest of these remarks. Senator Klobuchar, the ranking member at that time on the Rules Committee, was a big part of helping with that, as were the other four members of that committee.

In a normal year, organizing an inauguration is a major undertaking, but when you add a pandemic and then you add the events of January 6, it is uniquely challenging. Without a doubt, this was an inauguration of twists and turns, where adaptability, creativity, and determination were crucial.

Today, I am here on the floor to thank the staff, the partners, and the volunteers who met those challenges and made this year's inauguration a success.

As I mentioned earlier, the two factors that posed the greatest challenges this year were the pandemic and security. In order to keep the inauguration from becoming a superspreader event, we consulted with public health authorities at the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security and the Cleveland Clinic. We engaged experts from the National Football League, the Major League Baseball, NASCAR, the National Hockey League, Disney, Ardian Group, and CLEAR about pandemic protocols and technology that relates to them.

We were in regular consultation with the Office of the Attending Physician, particularly Dr. Monahan and his chief of staff, Keith Pray. And we relied on support from the Defense Health Agency and the Department of Health and Human Services' COVID-19 Joint Command Cell. Testing was required for all attendees, and over 7,000 tests were administered at two sites, one in the Capitol and one in the Pentagon.

Masks were required to be worn by all attendees. Graciously, Ford Motor Company produced a significant quantity of masks, truly a first for this or any inauguration, and we are grateful to them, and 3M provided some specialized masks for the limited indoor activities that we had.

The health and safety measures put together really created significant logistical challenges. All of this couldn't have been done without the leadership of Robin Mangan, our director of operations for that health activity and that testing activity. Her team, Dr. Alex Lazar, who was on sabbatical from MD Anderson; Jordan Wilson was with us from Rob Wittman's office; Shannon Ryder, detailed from the Capitol Police Office of Emergency Management to help with that part of what we did.

Security is always the foremost consideration for an inauguration. It is a time of great exposure, frankly, for our democracy and our Nation's leaders.

And, as I said earlier, just 2 weeks earlier, the inaugural platform itself had been stormed and damaged. The officers who fought valiantly that day to protect the Capitol were also in charge, 2 weeks later, with keeping the inauguration safe. And while carrying the burden of the events of January 6, the U.S. Capitol Police officers, with the assistance of the National Guard, ensured that the inauguration was secure and that the events of the day would occur without interruption.

Our committee's Capitol Police liaison, Lieutenant Jillian Jeffers, seamlessl coordinated the work of the JCCIC and the department's Inaugural Task Force. I want to thank Lieutenant Jeffers, the U.S. Capitol Police, and the Inaugural Task Force, along with the National Guard, and the entire Executive Steering Committee, and law enforcement elements of this National Special Security Event for maintaining the security of the Capitol Complex during the inauguration.

Because COVID significantly limited in-person participation, we had to put a particular emphasis on ensuring that people at home could also experience the inauguration. I believe we succeeded. Viewers of the 59th Inaugural Ceremonies totaled more than 108 million people. The enhanced viewing experience provided by JCCIC was viewed by more than 75 million people across social media platforms and the committee's website. This was more than double--surprising to me, at least--the viewership of the traditional national television news broadcast, which tallied about 33.8 million people. In addition, the JCCIC was able to generate 5.2 million individual impressions on Twitter, making it one of the bigger Twitter events ever.

One of the most well-received aspects of the JCCIC production was the narration provided by two Capitol Visitor Center guides, Janet Clemens and Ronn Jackson, who described the various events through the day, offering viewers a behind-the-scenes experience that only somebody who spent day after day totally understanding the Capitol Building could have done.

We appreciate the technical expertise and the creative insights offered us by industry professionals, like Gorilla Flicks and Razor Management, Showcall, Castle Technologies, and TRI Leadership Resources. All of those groups came together to help give us advice and assistance.

I want to especially thank Paige Waltz, the JCCIC's communications director. Paige was on loan from Senator Romney, and her vigorous efforts to overhaul the JCCIC brand and the website and to realize innovative ways to make our ceremonies more inclusive for Americans and viewers around the world really paid off on inaugural day. I think we can all agree that Paige and her team--Spring Binsted, Corinna Schutte, Channing Foster, and Matthew Mondello--outshined any expectations anybody would have had for what we were able to get across in this different kind of Inauguration Day.

There was much to be seen on what we call ``I-Day,'' as the staff called it, and there is so much that we didn't get a chance to see. The staff worked tirelessly in the background. That is the work we didn't see--the months for some, weeks for others--to make the inaugural presentation seem like it was basically effortless, even though there was incredible effort.

Jen Jett, on loan from Senator Wicker's office, was our director of administration and kept a master timeline, a lengthy document and intricate task that allowed the President to be sworn in before noon, as required by the 20th Amendment to the Constitution. We all watched President Biden take the oath of office at 11:48.

Jen was ably assisted by Abby Stahl, who was the first to greet you when you called or visited the JCCIC offices, as we made preparations for this inauguration.

Todd Beyer, our director of advance, made certain we all knew where to be and when to be there through all the ceremonies of the day. Jackson Blodgett skillfully supported those advanced efforts and facilitated an immense undertaking of credentialed access.

Grace Higgins, hired to support our alternative plans for inclement weather, instead became responsible for successfully managing a complex technical solution and the integration of elaborate health screening processes to ensure everyone's health safety.

Sam Burke, most recently a Marine Corps Senate liaison officer, served as the JCCIC's operation manager and military liaison, where he worked closely with the joint task force officials from the military district of Washington, who also played an incredibly instrumental role on that day.

Martha Scott Poindexter, now the Republican staff director of the Senate Agriculture Committee, served as our director of member services and ticketed and was responsible for assisting Senators, Representatives, Governors, foreign dignitaries, former Presidents, and former Members, frankly, as only she can, through the complexities of participating in this year's ceremonies.

Volunteers manager, Molly Harris Stevens, who was on loan from Representative Stauber, and Vincent Brown, on loan from Senator Klobuchar's Rules staff, recruited and managed 278 essential volunteers over months of unacknowledged tasks. Molly also helped design and implement a brandnew and seamless integration of our health and security operation, fielded by our volunteers.

Without the volunteers, an inauguration would not be able to be carried out. We want to thank each of them, and the names of each of them I would like to be printed in the Record.

Elizabeth Berry, Jeff Bishop, Meredith Blanford, Zoe Bluffstone, Lyron Blum-Evitts, Tia Bogeljic, Christopher Boldig, Delanie Bomar, Matthew Bonaccorsi, Abigail Borges, Bradley Bottoms, Taylor Bradley, Robert Braggs III, Anna Brightwell, Thomas Broadbent, India Brooks, LaVontae Brooks, Layla Brooks, Jordan Brossi, Paul Burdette, Benjamin Burnett, Taylor Burnett, Jessica Butherus, Cassandra Byrd, Saskya Cabral, Heather Campbell, Magdalonie Campbell.

Shawn Campbell, Molly Carpenter, Shana Chandler, Mindy Cheng, Robert Clark, Hart Clements, Michael Cobb, Joe Cobly, Maxwell Coker, Donald Cook, John Creedon, Emma Cunningham, Michele Curtis, Miranda Dabney, Evan Dale, Kelsey Daniels, Elizabeth Darnall, Graydon Daubert, Frishta Daud, Alexandra Davis, Tiffany Deliberto, Darlene DeMoss, Joshua DiRenzo, Marie Do, Cole Donaldson, Parker Dorrough, Sarah Drake.

Luke Dube, MaCherie Dunbar, Joy Durkin, AlmazEgga, Eric Einhorn, Mercedes Erikson, Rachel Erlebacher, Sarah Ferrell, John Fossum, Hannah Fraher, Gabriela Frazier, Sophie Friedfeld-Gebaide, Abe Friedman, Dana Gansman, Jessica Garcia, Benjamin Gardenhour, Renee Gasper, Tiffany Ge, Eric Gebhart, Kristen Gentile, Dianna Gilkerson, Andrew Gleaton, Jaron Goddard, Ruben Goddard, Andre Gonzales, Caroline Goodson, Marissa Goodstone.

Ian Graham, Jacqueline Greco, Max Green, Lindsay Gressard, Kevin Grout, Mary Guenther, Anuj Gupta, Joseph Hack, Joy Hamer, Hailee Hampton, Lillian Hanger, Beverly Hart, Mitch Heidenreich, Carrick Heilferty, Luke Hendrixson, Jessica Hernandez, Zoleiry Hernandez, Alyssa Hinman, Andy Ho, Kaitlin Hooker, Randall Hopkins, Alyse Huffman, Jacob Huls, Hayes Ingraham, Trelaine Ito, Matthew Jansen, Anjunelly Jean- Pierre.

Alexandra Jenkins, Jacob Jernigan, BreYhana Johnson, Caroline Jones, Samuel Kaardal, Elizabeth Kanick, Kellie Karney, Robert Kelly, Jazmine Kemp, Saadia Khan, Sheresh Khan, Katherine Kielceski, William Kiley, Lucy Koch, Samantha Koehler, Courtney Koelbel, Aria Kovalovich, Vikram Kulkarni, Ethan Lang, Katherine Lee, Kevin Lefeber, Nicholas Leiserson, Zach Lewis, Leah Li, Mary Lieb, Jaymi Light, Geremiah Lofton.

Alana Lomis, Shelby Luce, Richard Luchette, Jenny Luk, Daniel Maher, Meghan Mahoney, Michael Manning, Anna Marshall, Landers Mayer, John McDonald, Kevin McDonald, Trent McFadyen, John McIlveen, John McInerney, Mary McTague, Alina Meltaus, Jacob Mitchell, Maddie Mitchell, Michelle Morenza, Catherine Morvis, Kelly Moura, Meg Murphy, Jeff Naft, Samuel Negatu, Paul Nicholas, Sedinam Norvor, Gabriela Ochoa.

Jeremy Ortiz, Anna Owens, Karen Owens, Jasmin Palomares, Shivani Pampati, Laura Pastre, Stephanie Penn, Mehgan Perez- Acosta, Tracie Pough, Kayla Priehs, India Prophet, Sanjana Puskoor, Ronald Ratliff, Christiana Reasor, Ken Reidy, Anthony Reyes, Margaret Robert, Alivia Roberts, Connor Roberts, Drew Roberts, Frankie Robirds, Andrea Ross, Shauna Rust, Adrienne Salazar, Dana Sandman, Rita Santibanez, Laura Santos.

Naomi Savin, Michelle Schein, Nichelle Schoultz, Athena Schritz, Diane Scott, Riley Scott, Santiago Serrano, Sarah Shapiro, Moh Sharma, Meagan Shepherd, Sara-Paige Silvestro, Annie Simmons, Sam Sjoberg, Alaina Skalski, Cameron Smith, Chandler Smith, Cierra Smith, Jasmine Smith, Wendy Smith, Amy Soukup, Sarah Steinberg, David Stephens, Regan Still, Thomas Story, Aubrey Stuber, Elmamoun Sulfab, Brennan Sullivan.

Mary-Margaret Sullivan, Evelyn Swan, Adrian Swann, Kylie Tanner, Reggie Taylor, Mikael Tessema, Nisha Thanawala, Jackson Thein, Katherine Thomas, Tiana Thomas, Carter Thompson, Heidi Todacheene, Vickie Togans, Dominic Travis, Brian Trott, Sherman Tylawsky, Ana Unruh Cohen, Sydnee Urick, Daniela Valles, Amy Vanderveer, Cristina Villa, Landy Wade, Nathaniel Wallace, Ellasandra Walsh, Maura Weaver, Mary Werden, Jake Wessel.

Jared Wood, Theresa Wrzesinski, Jasmine Wyatt, Grayson Yachup, Alexandra Yiannoutsos, Elizabeth Yoder, Esther Yoon, Emily Ziegler.

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Mr. BLUNT. While the JCCIC had to make the difficult decision to forgo a traditional congressional luncheon this year, we are grateful to partners like Korbel, Lenox, and the Smithsonian American Art Museum for working so closely with us on planning.

Emily Kearney, the first person hired by the JCCIC, who early on worked with our partners at the Government Printing Office to design the tickets, invitations, and programs, is certainly to be commended for her work and to later coordinate and maintain the tradition of gifts presented to the President and Vice President in the Capitol Rotunda.

Lauren McBride, detailed from the House Sergeant at Arms to manage our exercises and rehearsals, expertly led our JCCIC team and core partners through a series of new ways to prepare for inclement weather, and she directed the massive undertaking of the dress rehearsal.

There is also a small group of dedicated staff who returned to support inauguration after inauguration: Celeste Gold, from Senator Romney's office; Michelle Reinshuttle, from the House Appropriations Committee; Tim Mitrovich from the Senate Sergeant at Arms returned to the JCCIC and once again loaned their experience to benefit the ceremonies.

Special thanks to Jen Daulby and Tim Monahan, the Republican staff director and deputy staff director, respectively, of the Committee on House Administration, for their assistance in the inauguration's performers and program participants.

I also want to thank the JCCIC staff representatives of our committee members, my personal staff, and my Rules Committee staff, who, in addition to their normal duties, were also able to lend their considerable talents and expertise to the JCCIC.

I especially want to thank Rules Committee staff Fitz Elder, who served as the dedicated staff director of the JCCIC, overcame the extraordinary challenges presented to the committee, and was undeniably paramount in the ultimate success of the ceremonies; Rachelle Schroeder, deputy staff director; Jackie Barber, chief counsel; Cindy Qualley, chief clerk; and James Ferenc, director of information technology.

Cami Morrison, the deputy inaugural coordinator, was once again responsible for the organization of the Presidential platform. She seated every single person in attendance and made certain we were 6 feet apart or sitting right by somebody whom we sit by all the time. I am thankful for her tireless efforts, patriotic heart, and inaugural expertise. This was Cami's fifth inauguration on the JCCIC staff.

Maria Lohmeyer, chief of inaugural ceremonies--this is the second inauguration that I have asked Maria to take responsibility for, and she helped once again to plan and execute this in a way that I am very grateful for. I am glad she did it the first time and even more pleased she was willing to come back and do it again. Right before she joined us with JCCIC, she had been deployed to Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, as part of her duties in the Navy Reserve. Maria, ever the determined professional, developed a plan and then another plan and then another plan and then another plan. She built a staff and a positive culture in a really challenging time. She exceeded expectations and with determination made certain that democracy prevailed on January 20.

Finally, I want to thank the Office of the House Chief Administrative Officer; the Appropriations Committee and especially the Legislative Branch Subcommittee clerks, Jessica Berry and Lucas Agnew; Julie Adams and many of the behind-the-scenes staff in the Office of the Senate Secretary, especially Sydney Butler, Senator Curator Melinda Smith, and Senate Historians Betty Koed and Beth Hahn; and Clerk of the House Cheryl Johnson for lending the technical expertise of her communication editorial staff, Catherine Cooke and January Layman-Wood.

I want to thank Architect of the Capitol Brett Blanton and his staff, who not only had to build a platform and put in a sound system, but they had to repair that platform and replace the sound system; from Brett Blanton's staff, in particular Mark Reed, Jason McIntyre, Raynell Bennett, and Dwayne Thomas.

I thank Acting House Sergeant at Arms Tim Blodgett and his staff, especially Ted Daniel and Davita Jones, and Acting Senate Sergeant at Arms Jennifer Hemingway and her staff, especially Becky Schaaf and Carly Flick.

I also want to thank Acting Chief Pittman of the U.S. Capitol Police and in that case especially Inspector John Erickson, who commanded the ITF and took personal responsibility to safeguard our JCCIC staff.

On January 20, 2021, the world witnessed the 59th inaugural ceremonies--``Our Determined Democracy: Forging a More Perfect Union''--as a periodic event that has really become, as I said earlier, both commonplace and miraculous. The inaugural ceremonies are not only a hallmark of American governance and democracy but also fulfill our constitutional duty and give assurance of our unbroken commitment to continuity, perseverance, and democracy.

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