On the recordJanuary 12, 2011
I thank the gentleman from Arizona for yielding. Madam Speaker, this week, we pause the work of the House to mourn the lost lives of six of our fellow citizens--one of those born on that day of tragedy and carnage when thousands were slain in an equally indiscriminate, heinous act of hate--citizens shot dead on Saturday in Tucson in pursuit of the "right to peaceably assemble," the amendment which Gabby Giffords read on this floor. We come as well to honor those who risked their lives to save others, to pray for the lives of the wounded, and to pray for our colleague and friend, Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords. Today, this temple of representative democracy is a sadder place. But Congresswoman Giffords' intelligence and her toughness, her public spirit and her charm will, God willing, and with the extraordinary medical care she is receiving, soon return to this body and again be a practitioner and a model for the principles of civil debate and thoughtful deliberation on which this temple is founded. Congresswoman Giffords was attacked doing the work that is the heart of democracy, as has been so eloquently observed by our Speaker, Mr. Boehner: Listening to her neighbors, listening to those who sent her here to Washington to reflect their views.
