Some Barack Obama supporters are paying thousands of dollars to attend his presidential inauguration in January. But tickets aren’t even available yet.
The Joint Congressional Committee on Inaugural Ceremonies is responsible for distributing the free tickets to congressional offices. In a statement, it warns that quote “no website or other ticket outlet actually has inaugural swearing-in tickets to sell, regardless of what they may claim.”
But vendor sites like StubHub have been selling tickets fast. Site spokesperson Vanessa Daniele says the company does a background check on sellers.
DANIELE: We don’t own any of the tickets or price them on our site. But basically, anyone can list a ticket for any event on our site and they select a price range.
Daniele says if the seller doesn’t end up having a ticket to sell, the company will compensate the buyer. Meanwhile, U.S. Senator Dianne Feinstein of California is asking websites not to sell the passes. She wants to make it a federal crime to scalp tickets for the inaugural ceremony.