Giffords will submit resignation letter Wednesday

Office confirms congresswoman will formally resign in morning

Posted Jan 24, 2012

Janet Rose Jackman
TucsonSentinel.com

Mariana Dale/TucsonSentinel.comGiffords tours the family center named in her honor with Food Bank CEO Bill Carnegie on Monday. The visit to the Food Bank was Giffords' final official act in her district, her office said.

U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords will submit her letter of resignation from the House of Representatives on Wednesday, her office confirmed Tuesday night.

Giffords will submit letters of resignation to Speaker of the House John Boehner and Gov. Jan Brewer Wednesday morning, Giffords' spokesman Mark Kimble said in a press release Monday evening.

The letter ends, "Every day I am working hard. I will recover and will return and we will work together again for Arizona and all Americans."

At some point between 7:45 a.m. and 8:30 a.m. (local time), Democratic leader of the House Nancy Pelosi will ask to speak out of order. After receiving unanimous consent, Pelosi will discuss Giffords’ career in the House.

House Speaker John Boehner or Republican leader Eric Cantor then briefly will speak about Giffords’ service followed by Democratic Whip Steny Hoyer.

Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, Giffords’ personal friend, will read the congresswoman’s letter of resignation from the well of the House. Giffords will join Wasserman Schultz Giffords and a bipartisan group of Giffords’ colleagues.

Giffords then will hand her letter of resignation to Boehner.

Her resignation will come before the House votes on her last piece of legislation, which would extend anti-smuggling laws to include ultralight aircraft.

Giffords’ resignation letter also will be given to Brewer on Wednesday. Brewer will then determine the dates for special primary and general elections to fill Giffords’ seat until the November elections.

Giffords announced Sunday in a video posted to YouTube that she would resign this week to focus on healing after being shot Jan. 8, 2011.

Giffords was in Washington on Tuesday night for the president's State of the Union Address, sitting between Reps. Raúl Grijalva and Jeff Flake. She was greeted with a tight hug from President Obama as he made his way through lawmakers to deliver the address.