Yesterday, the U.S. House passed a critical bill to increase the debt ceiling by at leat $2 trillion. Among those voting on the future of America? None other than Gabriella Giffords, critically wounded seven months ago by a madman's bullet during a "Congress on the Corner" event in Tucson, AZ.
Giffords should be home rehabbing instead of engaging in political grandstanding on the House floor.
I don't mean the 650,000 people in her 8th Congressional district shouldn't have a voice. But Giffords should have been forced to resign soon after the tragedy in Tucson, thus allowing Arizona Governor Jan Brewer to hold a special election, instead of paying her $200,000-plus salary on the taxpayers' dime.
Giffords' Chief of Staff, Pia Carusone, tweeted the Congresswoman would vote on the House bill just moments before she made her grand entrance. With the assistance of a friend, Giffords took her seat while politicos on both sides of the aisle rose to their feet for a 10-minute standing ovation. Tears were shed. Hugs and kisses were spread all around. House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi called her return the "personification of courage."
Yet, even Pelosi encouraged Giffords not to make the trip to Capital Hill.
The bullet that left Giffords a shell of her old self pierced the left hemisphere of her brain, which controls speech and movement. Without the immediate aid of those around her during the shooting spree, she would have died on the spot. Still, the nation collectively marveled when she opened her eyes or squeezed a hand. We watched in awe as she boarded a plane to see her husband, Astronaut Mark Kelly, off for the final space shuttle mission. Her neurosurgeon, Dr. Dong Kim, reported her recovery was progressing by 'leaps and bounds."
But let's keep this in perspective, folks. Dr. Kim says there is a bottom line for patients with severe brain injuries. "If somebody has a severe brain injury, are they ever going to be like they were before?" he speculated. "The answer is no." Dong went on to say, "Is your personality going to be like it was before? Are you going to have the same kind of mental abilities, and think through things, and understand?"
If a prominent neurosurgeon is asking these questions, shouldn't we?
Doctors shaved her head after surgery in May to replace a portion of her skull that was removed earlier to relieve brain swelling. Her blonde locks are gone. She speaks haltingly, straining to get each word out coherently.
"(She is) never going to be the exact same person," Dr. Kim adds.
That would be the Giffords who broke into the national polical stage in 2007 by being the third woman in Arizona's history elected to the U.S. Congress. A Blue Dog Democrat, Giffords, now 41, was touted as a young, highly educated (Cornell University grad) and ambitious idealist representing the future of women in American politics. The US political website, Real Clear Politics, named her one of its "Top Ten Rising Power Players in the US Congress."
Doctors remain optimistic. The country is pulling for her to reach some level of normalcy. She continues outpatient therapy after five months of intensive rehab.
This isn't the first time someone with a debilitating brain injury has cast a critical vote. Sen. Clair Engle (D-Cal.) voted on the civil rights act in 1964 while he suffered from a brain tumor, and was partially paralyzed. Unable to speak, he cast his “aye” vote by pointing to his eye.
Engle died the very next month.
The debt ceiling debate put at risk the U.S.' buying power -- interest rates could have doubled if a deal wasn't reached. Also on the chopping block was Social Security, troop pay, food stamps, and welfare.
Today, the Senate passed the debt deal by a wide margin of 74-26. With so much at stake, we should all be thankful the House vote also didn't come down to one: That cast by Gabriella Giffords.
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