By AMY HARDER
Legislation making it a misdemeanor to scalp inauguration tickets will be reintroduced this afternoon on the Senate floor. The bill, sponsored by Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D.-Calif., failed last month when a gambit to win quick passage in the Senate ran out of time.
Howard Gantman, staff director of the Senate Rules and Administration Committee, acknowledged that while "time is limited," Feinstein will try to pass the legislation before the inauguration takes place. Feinstein, chairwoman of the Joint Committee on Inaugural Ceremonies, tried to "hotline" the bill through the Senate -- getting it approved by a unanimous consent -- in December, as well.
The legislation would ban the sale of the 240,000 free tickets that members of Congress will allocate a few days before Jan. 20. The tickets were fetching high prices online through Web sites like eBay and StubHub, which have since worked out an agreement with Feinstein blocking any such sales.
Gantman said the bill has been revised to allow official presidential inaugural committees to raise money "for the purpose of putting on the inaugural event itself." This includes funding for things like Jumbotrons and Port-A-Potties, he said. President-elect Barack Obama's official inaugural committee is holding a raffle to give away inauguration tickets (including airfare to Washington and hotel accommodations) to 10 people who donate at least $5.
Gantman said that while the bill was being revised, it came to the senator's attention that official inaugural committees in the past have often used raffle-like techniques to raise money. "There is a strong distinction between raising money to put on the actual event and scalping tickets," Gantman said.
NationalJournal.com obtained a copy of the original bill [PDF] and the revised one will be available once it's introduced later today.
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