Obama to attend opening of Institute honoring Sen. Kennedy

In this Monday, March 23, 2015 photo, a television cameraman films near the entrance to the Edward M. Kennedy Institute, in Boston. The $79 million institute is scheduled to be dedicated on Monday, March 30, 2015. (AP Photo/Steven Senne) In this Monday, March 23, 2015 photo, a television cameraman films near the entrance to the Edward M. Kennedy Institute, in Boston. The $79 million institute is scheduled to be dedicated on Monday, March 30, 2015. (AP Photo/Steven Senne)

By Associated Press March 30, 2015 2 min read

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.