Giffords to attend State of the Union

Rep. Gabrielle Giffords will attend President Obama's State of the Union address Tuesday evening in one of her final acts as a member of Congress, her office announced.

Giffords, who announced Sunday in a video that she would resign from Congress this week to focus on her recovery, will sit between Repyblican Rep. Jeff Flake and Democratic Rep. Raul Grijalva. At last year's State of the Union address, shortly after Giffords was shot and wounded, Flake and Grijalva flanked an empty seat reserved for the congresswoman.

Giffords, who has pushed for more bipartisan cooperation in Congress, said in her video message: "We can do so much more by working together."

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Mr. Obama has also invited Giffords' husband, Mark Kelly, to be a guest at the address. Kelly will sit with the first lady.

Also attending the address as a guest will be Giffords' constituent Brian Kolfage. Kolfage, who was injured in a mortar attack Iraq in 2004, is a triple amputee and serves on the congresswoman's Veterans Advisory Council.

On Monday, Giffords spent her final hours in Tucson as the city's U.S. representative, finishing the meeting she started on the morning she was shot and bidding farewell to constituents who supported her through a long recovery.

Giffords, wearing an olive-green jacket and a bright turquoise scarf, spent time Monday at her office with other survivors of the rampage that killed six people and injured 13. She hugged and talked with survivors, including Suzi Hileman, who was shot three times while trying to save her young friend and neighbor, 9-year-old Christina-Taylor Green. The little girl died from a gunshot wound to the chest.

Others who met with Giffords included Pat Maisch, hailed as a hero for wrestling a gun magazine from the shooter that day, and Daniel Hernandez, Giffords' intern at the time who helped save her life by trying to stop her bleeding until an ambulance arrived.

"It was very touching," said Maisch, who was not hurt in the attack. "I thanked her for her service, wished her well, and she just looked beautiful."

[parisdakar]

Tired of hearing about this chick. It sucks that she got shot of course, but it's portrayed like she has some special gift of determination we all don't...as if the rest of us would have just given up and died.

[John782011]

I was impressed by her in her taped presentation yesterday. After seeing some of the TBI soldiers at the VA as the various newscasters and Drs have said, her recovery is remarkable, but we can not imagine how hard it has been or will continue to be. Best of luck in your continued recovery. And many of us do hope to see your smile in the future.