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A combination photo shows souvenir buttons displayed for the upcoming U.S. Presidential Inauguration are seen in a store in Washington January 9, 2009. U.S. President-elect Barack Obama will be sworn in as the 44th President of the United States on January 20. Pictures taken January 9, 2009.
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The US Senate has passed a bill outlawing the sale of tickets to President-elect Barack Obama's swearing-in ceremony, which are being handed out for free, threatening offenders with a $100,000 fine and a year in jail.
More than a million people are expected to converge on Washington on January 20 to watch Obama take the oath of office on the steps of the US Capitol and address the nation.
The Joint Congressional Committee on Inaugural Ceremonies is distributing 240,000 free tickets for the ceremony, which is expected to attract record crowds. But the tickets are being sold for hundreds, sometimes thousands, of dollars by enterprising citizens.
"The presidential inauguration is one of the most important rituals of our democracy. The chance to witness it should not be bought and sold like tickets to a sporting event," Sen. Dianne Feinstein, a California Democrat who sponsored the legislation, said in a statement on Wednesday.
The legislation, passed by the Senate on Tuesday night, still has to be approved by the House of Representatives. So, with the inauguration less than a week away, it may have little practical effect.
"My hope is that the House takes up and quickly passes this legislation so that we can stop scam artists and profiteers from tarnishing this important event," Feinstein said.
Craigslist, the popular Internet classifieds listing service, has numerous ads for the tickets, while online ticket broker greatseats.com is offering them for up to $3,000 each.
Greatseats.com owner Danny Matta criticized the bill, saying it ran contrary to the spirit of capitalism.
"There are people who want to sell the tickets and there are people who want to buy them. This law does nothing but hurt people," said Matta, who has set up a kiosk in Washington's Union Station to sell tickets to the swearing-in ceremony, the parade and inaugural balls.
He said if the bill became law he would stop selling tickets to the swearing-in ceremony.
In November, online auction site eBay announced it would not allow the sale of ceremony tickets.
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(Agencies)
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美國(guó)參議院日前通過(guò)一項(xiàng)議案，宣布禁止倒賣(mài)奧巴馬就職儀式的門(mén)票，違者將被處以10萬(wàn)美元的罰款和一年的監(jiān)禁。奧巴馬就職典禮的門(mén)票將免費(fèi)向公眾發(fā)放。
預(yù)計(jì)當(dāng)天將有100多萬(wàn)人前往華盛頓參加在國(guó)會(huì)山舉行的總統(tǒng)就職典禮，屆時(shí)奧巴馬將在此正式宣誓就職并發(fā)表全國(guó)講話(huà)。
“就職典禮聯(lián)合委員會(huì)”正向公眾發(fā)放24萬(wàn)張免費(fèi)觀禮票，預(yù)計(jì)當(dāng)天參加就職典禮的人數(shù)將創(chuàng)歷史紀(jì)錄。但現(xiàn)在門(mén)票已被一些膽大的市民炒到了幾百甚至幾千美元一張。
提出該議案的加州民主黨參議員黛安?費(fèi)因斯坦于本周三在一份聲明中稱(chēng)：“總統(tǒng)就職典禮是美國(guó)最重要的一項(xiàng)民主儀式，見(jiàn)證這一歷史時(shí)刻的機(jī)會(huì)不應(yīng)該像體育比賽的門(mén)票一樣被買(mǎi)賣(mài)?！?/font>
該提案已于本周二晚在參院通過(guò)，但還需提交眾院批準(zhǔn)?，F(xiàn)在距總統(tǒng)就職典禮僅剩不到一周的時(shí)間，因此實(shí)際作用可能不大。
費(fèi)因斯坦說(shuō)：“我希望眾議院能盡快通過(guò)該議案，這樣我們就可以阻止騙子和奸商去褻瀆這場(chǎng)盛事。”
美國(guó)最受歡迎的分類(lèi)信息網(wǎng)站Craigslist上已經(jīng)發(fā)布了很多條售票信息，在線(xiàn)票務(wù)代理網(wǎng)站greatseats.com業(yè)也開(kāi)出了每張門(mén)票3000美元的高價(jià)。
Greatseats.com的老板丹尼?馬特指責(zé)該提案有悖于資本主義的精神。
馬特說(shuō)：“有人想賣(mài)，有人想買(mǎi)，這是你情我愿的事。這項(xiàng)提案除了傷害大家，沒(méi)別的作用?！瘪R特已在華盛頓聯(lián)合車(chē)站設(shè)了一個(gè)售票點(diǎn)，向公眾出售就職典禮、露天游行和就職舞會(huì)的門(mén)票。
但他表示，如果提案通過(guò)，他將停止出售就職典禮的門(mén)票。
去年11月，在線(xiàn)拍賣(mài)網(wǎng)站eBay宣布禁止在該網(wǎng)出售就職典禮門(mén)票。
（實(shí)習(xí)生許雅寧 英語(yǔ)點(diǎn)津姍姍編輯）
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