Heres Whos Seeing Pope Francis Address Congress Today
Members of Congress had a big decision to make when it came to Pope Francis' speech Thursday who to invite. Representatives had 50 tickets to give for viewing the address on the Capitol lawn and Senators had 200, but each member of Congress had just one extra ticket for seating in the Gallery. Many members of Congress gave that ticket to their spouse or another family member. "It was not a hard decision. It would have cost me a marriage if I would not have given it to her," Sen. Jon Tester of Montana joked to the National Journal of giving the ticket to his wife Sharla. Others gave their ticket to faith leaders from their state or district. California Sen. Barbara Boxer and New York Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, for example, both invited nuns from their home states. But a few lawmakers broke the mold with their invites. These are some members of Congress with interesting invites to see Pope Francis speak, Four other 2016 candidates will be in attendance at the speech because they are members of Congress Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul, and Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders. Vice President Joe Biden and his wife will also be attending the speech. Biden will sit beside Boehner behind Pope Francis.