Giffords Upgraded to "Good"; Rehab Next

Updated at 6:47 a.m.

HOUSTON - U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords will be moved to a rehabilitation facility Wednesday morning after doctors upgraded her condition from serious to good, according to the hospital overseeing the Arizona congresswoman's recovery.

Memorial Hermann Texas Medical Center Hospital said her doctors have determined she is ready to move to TIRR Memorial Hermann, another facility at the hospital where her rehabilitation will begin. That transfer was scheduled for sometime Wednesday morning, pending a review of her condition, according to a statement posted Tuesday night on the hospital's website.

Giffords had been kept in intensive care since her arrival Friday at the Houston hospital from Tucson, where she had been hospitalized since the Jan. 8 shooting. Doctors in Texas said she had been given a tube to drain excess cerebrospinal fluid.

Everyone makes such fluid, but an injury can cause the fluid to not be cleared away as rapidly as normal. A backup can cause pressure and swelling within the brain.

Giffords was critically wounded in the rampage that killed six people and injured 12 others. She was shot in the forehead while meeting with constituents outside a Tucson, Arizona, supermarket.

Mr. Obama paid tribute to Rep. Giffords in the beginning of his remarks on Tuesday, and urged Americans to let the recent tragedy in Tucson stand as a reminder that "each of us is a part of something greater - something more consequential than party or political preference."

Members of Congress and other political leaders wore black and white ribbons to the speech in honor of the Democratic Arizona congresswoman, who was critically injured in a shooting earlier this month.

"The black/white ribbon has been a symbol of unity and hope for the entire Tucson community in the wake of this event," read a letter by Reps. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-Fla.) and Mike McCaul (R-Texas), who urged their fellow State of the Union attendees to wear a ribbon. "The white ribbon represents hope for a peaceful, nonviolent society. The black ribbon is in remembrance of all who have died and been wounded as a result of violence."

To further honor Giffords, the Arizona congressional delegation left a seat empty during tonight's speech.

The 22-year-old suspect in the shootings, Jared Loughner, pleaded not guilty Monday to federal charges of trying to assassinate the congresswoman and two of her aides. He also faces federal murder charges in the deaths of a federal judge and a Giffords aide, and more charges were expected.