[Congressional Record Volume 167, Number 36 (Thursday, February 25, 2021)]
[Senate]
[Pages S878-S880]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



         Joint Congressional Committee on Inaugural Ceremonies

  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,

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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.
  I ask unanimous consent that those names be printed in the Record
  There being no objection, the material was ordered to be printed in 
the Record, as follows:

                           List of Volunteers

       Alexis Alavi, Hannah Albert, Bre Allen, Connor Allison, 
     Alexis Anderson, Nina Andrews, Chelsea Angelo, Jonathan 
     Aquino, Miguel Argueta, Hector Arias, Mauricio Armaza, 
     Anourath Arounlangsy, Abby Atkins, Shallum Atkinson, Molly 
     Austin, Adam Axler, Shahryar Baig, Scott Balough, Jake Barr, 
     Laura Bart, Alec Bartishevich, Andres Bascumbe, Amanda 
     Beaumont, Stewart James Becker, Jenna Behringer, Auburn Bell.
       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,

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     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.

  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.
  With great thanks to everybody mentioned and with tremendous 
cooperation from Members of the House and Senate, I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. King). The Senator from Minnesota
  Ms. KLOBUCHAR. Mr. President, I wanted to join Senator Blunt in 
thanking the JCCIC staff. I see them up there, all 6 feet apart. They 
are incredible and did such a good job in a really difficult 
circumstance with this inauguration.
  I want to thank Senator Blunt for his great leadership through thick 
and thin. There were a lot of hard decisions that had to be made, and 
he made the right ones. We worked together really well, and the sky was 
blue when the new President got inaugurated. Somehow he pulled that off 
as well. So I thank the staff and thank Senator Blunt for his 
friendship and his great leadership.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Illinois.