Glitter and glitz for Obama's swearing-in
Washington, Jan16: It would be the most expensive ceremony in the American history. US President-elect Barack Obama's inauguration on Jan 20 is expected to cost a whopping $150 million. Obama"s inauguration expenses are likely to be to the tune of over $150 million, overshadowing the $42.3 million spent on George Bush"s inauguration in 2005 and $33 million on Bill Clinton"s in 1993, media report said.
Part
of
the
spending
includes
emergency
funding
announced
by
the
White
House
on
Wednesday,
Jan
14
to
help
with
the
soaring
costs.
If
it
snow
during
the
ceremony,
the
costs
would
go
up.
Further,
most
of
the
funding
would
be
to
deal
with
around
1.5
to
two
million
people
expected
to
attend
the
swearing-in
ceremony
of
the
United
States"
first
African
American
President,
a
report
in
the
Guardian
said.
The surge in spending is partly because of Obama"s decision to make the event as accessible to the public as possible. Inaugural ceremonies committee spokeswoman Carole Florman as saying, “We are always very budget conscious.
But we are sending a message to the entire world about our peaceful transition of power, and you do not want it to look like a schlock affair. It needs to be appropriate to the magnitude of events that it is."The federal govt has earmarked a budget of $49 million for the inauguration.
OneIndia News (With inputs from Agencies)