BETTER ACT FAST TO SCALP YOUR INAUGURAL TICKET!

The U. S. Senate recently voted to pass legislation making it illegal to resell or counterfeit tickets to Barack Obama's inauguration next week. Should the measure become law, inaugural ticket scalpers would face a fine and/or a year in prison.

The measure, which passed by a voice vote, was sponsored by Sen. Diane Feinstein, D-Calif., who is the chair of the committee overseeing the inauguration. The legislation failed the last time it was introduced in December. Feinstein wrote the bill in response to reports that tickets being sold on Craigslist and other sites. They are fetching $500 or more online.

It is believed that a lot of the selling has come from the pool of 240,000 free inauguration tickets that are mostly given out by members of Congress to friends, donors or the public. There is an exception in the bill for tickets sold after the event (presumably as souvenirs) or tickets sold by directly by the Presidential Inaugural Committee.

It's not known at this point whether this ban will become law by Tuesday, January 20. The Associated Press reports that prospects that it will be taken up and passed by the House before Mr. Obama's swearing in are uncertain. Scalpers are expected to be out in force at the Obama rally in downtown Baltimore on Saturday -- it's believed that Mayor Dixon, recently indicted (released on bail-?), will be there, too.

GO HERE to see more.

Senate passes bill banning scalping of inaugural tickets.