The Associated Press reports:
Unlike four years ago, he [Obama] now is accepting money from corporations to help pay for the festivities, and there are no limits on those donations. In 2009, the presidential inaugural committee capped individual donations at $50,000. Lobbyists and political action committees will still be banned from making donations.
Besides the balls and the traditional parade, private money also would pay for items such as giant TV screens on the mall for the swearing-in and thousands of portable toilets.
The other gigantic part of the tab is all the security. That’s picked up by taxpayers, but it’s harder to put a complete dollar figure on security. The Secret Service says it doesn’t discuss those costs.
In 2009, the federal government reimbursed the District of Columbia $44 million for the inauguration. That was just for city costs, not Secret Service or military personnel.
Democrats claimed their convention this summer wouldn’t be funded at all by corporations; that turned out not to be the case.