And in August 2009, when there were demonstrations against the health care measure across the nation, a protester who showed up to meet Ms. Giffords at a supermarket event similar to Saturday’s was removed by the police when the pistol he had holstered under his armpit fell and bounced on the floor.

pres-elect:

These people just talk nonsense without realizing the consequences, love of guns. Reload. Etc. The poor woman is fighting for her life now. A judge is dead. A 9 year old is dead, six people are dead due to some lunatic.

tpia1:

^^i dey here dey look some nlers oh.

In 2008, Giffords introduced legislation that would have increased the cap on the H-1B visa from 65,000 per year to 130,000 per year.[42] If that were not sufficient, according to her legislation, the cap would have been increased to 180,000 per year.[43] The bill would have allowed, at most, 50% of employees at any given company with at least 50 employees to be H-1B guest workers.[44] A large number of H-1B visas are used by outsourcing companies, as five of the top ten users of the visa are regularly outsourcing corporations.[45] Giffords claimed the bill would help high-tech companies in southern Arizona, some of which rely on H1-B employees.[44] Giffords' bill was never voted on by the House of Representatives.

Extending four immigration provisions

I introduced legislation to extend the following four immigration provisions:

•E-Verify – extends E-Verify for five years (same language as the Congresswoman’s Employee Verification Amendment Act).
•Religious workers – there is a nonimmigrant visa category "R" for individuals seeking to enter the United States to work in a religious capacity on a temporary basis.  The provision was extended last Congress by the Religious Worker Visa Extension Act, which passed by voice vote.  This would extend the provision through September 30, 2014.
•Rural doctors – nonimmigrant visa for international medical graduates to come to the United States under an educational exchange program for up to seven years. This would extend the provision through September. 30, 2014.
•EB-5 Regional Center Pilot Program – sets aside 3,000 visas annually through FY 2014 for visas that allow the applicant to earn permanent residency (green card) via an investment of $1 million (or $500,000 if certain criteria are met — i.e., high unemployment area) and creation of 10 new full time jobs.
•Status: The FY 2010 DHS Appropriations bill extended E-Verify for three years, and these other three programs were extended through FY 2014.

http://giffords.house.gov/legis/immigration.shtml

on the Arizona Boycotts:

http://giffords.house.gov/boycotts.shtml


Following the passage of Arizona’s S.B. 1070, sports teams, musicians, private companies and even government entities have instituted boycotts against our state.  I don’t agree with these boycotts, and I find it especially troubling when the federal government becomes involved in a boycott against our state.  That kind of action only adds to the frustration our community feels over illegal immigration.

I am doing everything I can to send a strong message to those who wish to boycott Arizona—their discontent with S.B. 1070 is misdirected. These boycotts will not affect lawmakers in Phoenix, and they will only hurt hard-working people who are struggling in these tough economic times. I have sent letters to over 42 cities and organizations, including the Major League Baseball Players Association and the cities of El Paso and Austin, urging them to end their boycott of Arizona in protest of S.B. 1070.

My concern is that this boycott will only punish hard working Arizonans and the businesses that employ them. This belief is supported by the U.S. Travel Association, which called for an end to the Arizona boycotts and urged federal policymakers to address immigration on a national level.

isale_gan2:

I can't hold anyone responsible other than the misguided shooter.

Alan Boyle writes:Today's Arizona shooting is likely to have reverberations that extend beyond Earth, for personal as well as political reasons.

NASA astronaut Mark Kelly is the husband of one of the victims, Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, D-Ariz., and flew from Houston in the wake of the shooting to be at his wounded wife's side.

Kelly is currently in training to command the shuttle Endeavour's crew on a flight to the International Space Station in April. Endeavour is to bring up a $1.5 billion international physics experiment called the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer, and as of now it would be the final mission of the 30-year space shuttle program. Congress has authorized another shuttle mission this summer on Atlantis, but the funding has not yet been set aside for that flight.

montelik:

Before anyone does a President Obama (remember Henry Gates in Massachusetts) and comments or condemns before all d facts come in. Why not just let d law enforcement officials do their job and investigate before people start jumping to conclusions. Instead pray for injured and dead.

House suspends vote on health care repeal


WASHINGTON – The House of Representatives is postponing a vote on repealing the recently enacted health care law because of the shooting spree in Tucson, Ariz. that killed a federal judge and wounded Arizona Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords.

House Majority Leader Eric Cantor said all legislative action "is being postponed so that we can take whatever actions may be necessary in light of today's tragedy."

The House was scheduled to vote Wednesday on repealing the massive health care law. Republicans took control of the House last week after taking away 63 seats from Democrats in midterm elections in which the new law was a key issue.