Sierra Vista Herald

Candidates for House of Reps, CD 8, were asked to address the following:

1. Please tell why do you believe you are the best qualified among candidates for your position.
2. What do you believe currently is the most important issue facing the winner of the office you seek?
3. Please provide your opinion for or against bipartisanship action in the House of Representatives.
4. If Congress has overstepped its constitutional bounds in making laws and if it did, why?

Gabrielle Giffords
Political affiliation: Democrat
Current employer: The People of Arizona’s 8th District
Occupation: U.S. Representative, CD-8
Age: 40
Home: Tucson
Family: Spouse, Mark Kelly, U.S. Navy Captain and NASA astronaut; step-daughters, Claudia and Claire Kelly

1. I’ve lived up to my promise to fight for the people I represent by cleaning up Washington, including ending the influence of lobbyists and corrupt earmarking. Running my family’s tire company, I know the meaning of hard work and the importance of small business. Since 2007, I’ve successfully pushed for doubling Border Patrol agents and deploying National Guard along the border, passing the new GI Bill and modernizing the VA. To better understand my priorities in Congress and work on key committees, please visit www.giffords.house.gov.

2. Ending Washington’s partisan gridlock. Americans need more leaders who will do their jobs — not simply obstruct progress for short-term personal or political gain. All elected Republicans and Democrats need to start by working together to secure our border.

Border security is national security. I have called for tough border security measures, including more Border Patrol agents and mobile surveillance systems on the border and tough penalties for employers who hire illegal workers. Action by our federal government to secure our border is long overdue, and it’s time for both parties to do their jobs and to do it together.

3. Every year our country gets more divided and bipartisanship feels more like a thing of the past. This isn’t good for the future of our nation and isn’t a productive way for elected officials to work. America’s problems are bipartisan, so our solutions must be bipartisan.

I’m a strong believer in bipartisanship — and not just during election years. The lion’s share of the bills I’ve introduced, like the New Employee Verification Act, a bill to toughen laws governing how employers must verify the citizenship of prospective employees that I introduced with Texas Republican Sam Johnson, have a Republican co-sponsor.

4. Even the smallest government is excessive if it doesn’t work for the people it’s supposed to serve. I fight every day to make government work for Southern Arizonans. That’s why I voted to stop abuses by Wall Street and cut middle class taxes. That’s why I believe we should fix Social Security, not privatize it; BP should be held accountable for devastating the Gulf and the federal government must secure our border. Voters have a choice on Nov. 2. No matter how big the ax we take to government, it won’t matter without leaders who put the people over politics.

by Rhonda Bodfield

Arizona Daily Star Pueblo Politics Blog

After the House passed a bill providing another $701 million in new border security funding Wednesday night, Arizona Sens. John McCain and Jon Kyl introduced their own bill Thursday providing…..$701 million in new border security funding.

The House version, co-sponsored by Arizona Democratic congresswomen Gabrielle Giffords and Ann Kirkpatrick and 10 others, would provide a host of improvements along the border, including 1,200 additional Border Patrol agents, another 500 customs and immigration officers, more money for communications and funding for two more unmanned surveillance aircraft.

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by Gary Martin

San Antonio Express

Border lawmakers from Southwest states were instrumental in pressing the House to pass a $701 million bill Wednesday for security measures on the U.S.-Mexico border after the money was stripped out of a previous war funding bill in the Senate.

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by Bill Hess

Sierra Vista Herald

Although $701 million for border security was cut by the U.S. Senate last week from the war supplemental bill, the U.S. House of Representatives passed the same amount Wednesday in an emergency border security funding bill.

The funds’ revival was introduced by Democratic U.S. Rep. David Price of North Carolina, chairman of the Homeland Security Appropriations Subcommittee.

U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, D-Tucson, had fought for the funds since they were removed by the Senate. Arizona’s two GOP U.S. senators voted to remove the money and other funds totaling nearly $20 billion that had been added to the supplemental bill by House members.

“I promised members of the Arizona Cattle Growers’ Association when I spoke to them last week that I would fight for this funding,” said Giffords, who represents Arizona 8th Congressional District.

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Dylan Smith

Tucson Sentinel

The U.S. House of Representatives voted Wednesday to boost spending on border security by $701 million.

The Senate stripped the border enforcement money from a war spending bill last Thursday. After a weeks’ pushing by Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, the Emergency Supplemental Appropriations for Border Security Act was passed on a voice vote Wednesday evening.

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Posted by Hank Stephenson

Tucson Weekly

Representative Gabrielle Giffords says today’s ruling imposing a partial injunction against SB 1070 by U.S. District Judge Susan Bolton is “an affirmation of the fact that the enforcement of our nation’s immigration laws is the responsibility of federal government.”

She also took the opportunity to push for her $701 million in emergency border security funds.

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The Hill Congress Blog

It was Ronald Reagan who famously said, “I am not worried about the deficit. It is big enough to take care of itself.”

That may have been the case in 1981 when Reagan took office. But today, the deficit is so bloated – more than five times what it was at the beginning of Reagan’s presidency – that it is far too corpulent to care for itself.

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by Hank Stephenson
The Tucson Weekly

Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords had some strong words for the U.S. Senate last week, after they knocked down her bill, the Emergency Border Security Supplemental Appropriations Act, which would allot an extra $701 million to fortify the border.

“Southern Arizonans should be appalled that the United States Senate said ‘no’ to supporting the troops on the border, said ‘no’ to protecting the ranchers in my district who are threatened daily and said ‘no’ to increasing border patrol agents who would help stop the flow of drugs and illegal immigrants into our country,” Giffords said in a statement last Friday.
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Fox 11 News

The Tucson Weekly Range Blog

Congresswoman Giffords sends news on Congress canceling cash for border security.

U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords and two colleagues from southwest border states are urging House leaders to restore $701 million in border security funds that were stripped from an appropriations bill last week by the Senate.

“This funding is essential to maintain safe communities on the border and crack down on drug smuggling and other border crime,” the lawmakers wrote in a letter to Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Majority Leader Steny Hoyer. “We strongly urge you to work with the Senate to reinstate this funding.”

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