BOSTON (AP) - President Barack Obama, Vice President Joe Biden and Republican U.S. Sen. John McCain are among the guests scheduled to pay tribute to the late Sen. Edward Kennedy at the formal dedication of an institute named for him in Boston.
A ceremony is scheduled on Monday at the Edward M. Kennedy Institute for the United States Senate.
The $79 million facility features a life-sized replica of the Senate chamber. Guests, including student groups, will be able to role-play as senators and debate some of the major issues of the day.
The institute was built next to the John F. Kennedy presidential library on Boston's Columbia Point.
Family members said Kennedy, the Democratic "liberal lion" of the Senate, conceived of the institute before he was diagnosed with brain cancer in 2008. He died the following year.
Kennedy served in the Senate for 47 years and hoped the institute would help teach about the important role the body plays in the American system of government.
"He wanted the Senate chamber to be a full scale place where visitors could have a sense of the majesty of the United States Senate, where they would feel the sense of awe that he felt every time he walked into the chamber," said his widow, Victoria Reggie Kennedy.
The facility also includes a re-creation of Kennedy's Senate office, virtually unchanged from how it appeared when he died.
Obama is scheduled to speak at Monday's dedication, along with McCain, Gov. Charlie Baker, Mayor Martin J. Walsh, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, and U.S. Sens. Elizabeth Warren and Edward Markey.
Biden is scheduled to preside over a separate ceremony to formally open the replica Senate chamber.