Standing in front of construction workers in neon vests and hard hats amid pallets of lumber on Wednesday, lawmakers hammered the first nails into the 2025 inauguration platform.
The quadrennial event kicks off the real work of preparing for about 1,600 official guests who will join the next president onstage as he or she takes the oath of office. The inaugural platform is built from scratch every four years for the Jan. 20 ceremony, which has been held on the West Front of the Capitol since 1981.
Security is heightened around the worksite, which is ringed by two sets of fencing. Last week, the Department of Homeland Security announced that Jan. 6, 2025, would be designated a National Special Security Event in the hopes of avoiding a repeat of the previous electoral vote count. On that day in 2021, a mob scaled and overran the inaugural platform as supporters of President Donald Trump stormed the Capitol seeking to overturn the election.
