Giffords talks about a week in Washington, energy issues

Saturday, May 12, 2007

By Ellen Sussman, Special to the Green Valley News

Green Valley News & Sun

Describing a typical week in Washington in a speech Saturday night, Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords thanked a supportive crowd from the Democratic Club of the Santa Rita Area who helped to elect her in November.

Campaigning against five other Democrats and five Republicans, she won the Congressional District 8 seat after U.S. Rep. Jim Kolbe, R-Ariz., retired after serving 11 consecutive terms.

Giffords greeted the audience and said she was pleased to have her fiance Mark Kelly with her; Kelly is a NASA astronaut.

Thanking the crowd of 172, she said, “So many of you worked your hearts out, walked, gave money… We did it; all your hard work paid off.”

Giffords spoke about the importance of her work in Washington, but emphasized that she lives in Arizona. She spends about 14 hours a week commuting, in the air and on the ground in D.C. and said, “I’m committed to coming back to Arizona every weekend.” She usually arrives in Tucson at about 10:30 Friday night and returns to D.C. on Monday morning.

Meetings, she said, typically start at 7:30 or 8 a.m. A member of the House Armed Services Committee, Foreign Affairs Committee and Committee on Science and Technology, she said, “My schedule is extraordinarily busy; the days are amazingly filled… whether this is for two years or 20 years I feel so passionate about what I’m doing.”

In addition to focusing on issues for Arizona, Giffords said she’s also involved in federal and international issues.

She spoke about the hot topic of energy, the need to educate the public and said just last week she launched an initiative for Arizona to lead the nation in solar energy.

“Currently, only 2 percent of energy in Arizona is solar,” she said, adding that in Germany most houses and businesses have solar panels. One of Giffords’ goals is to get approval for homeowners’ associations to allow solar panels on homes.

Opening the evening to questions, the first one dealt with immigration. “We have an immigration crisis here; there’s the need for comprehensive immigration reform; it needs a major overhaul,” she said.

Asked about the size of her staff, she said in Arizona she has a staff of 12 and in D.C. a staff of seven. Giffords joked about her small office in Washington and how she was 49th out of 53 new representatives in a lottery for choosing office space. It’s small, she said, but at one time it was LBJ’s office.

Regarding health care, Giffords said there’s nothing the current administration will do, calling it “the nation’s most pressing domestic policy.”

Asked how a new representative gets on a committee, she said, “There’s a huge campaign, but really it’s Speaker’s choice.” Giffords documented why she wanted to be on specific committees and said she loves being on the Armed Services Committee.

On action taken in the past four months in the House of Representatives, she said the first bill passed was a major lobbying bill. She spoke about No Child Left Behind, which is up for re-authorization this year, and said she won’t vote for it because it doesn’t work. She said she favors international scholarships and a diversified Congress.

Asked, “What can we do to change the image of the U.S.?” she spoke about the difficult situation in the Middle East and Iraq and said, “This is the most botched war. You can point your finger at many things we’ve done wrong.” Having been to Iraq in February Giffords said she doesn’t believe three months is a realistic time period for troop withdrawal. “It’s too short; I don’t feel the armed services could it… it’s not realistic.”

When one woman asked, “When are you going to start impeachment?” the audience applauded. Giffords said with 18 months left for the current administration it’s not the right path to go. She soothed the audience somewhat when she closed by saying “the tide has changed.”

Ellen Sussman is a freelance writer for the Green Valley News.

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