The U.S. House of Representatives voted unanimously 408-0 to approve a bill introduced by Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, D-Tucson, that will impose stiffer penalties for those who smuggle illegal drugs using ultralight aircraft.
A similar bill passed the House in the previous session of Congress, but did not make it through the Senate. Under present law, those who use cars and other means of transport face more serious penalties than those who use ultralight aircraft.
Rep. Giffords tendered her resignation today when she limped to the Speaker's rostrum and handed John Boehner her letter amid a 3-minute standing ovation. She was shot in the head more than a year ago by a deranged man named Loughner who mowed down 6 other persons, including a little girl 8 years old and a District Judge, with a handgun. Tea Party ads sponsored by such luminaries as Gov. Sarah Palin featured crosshairs over her name during the bitter mid-term campaign of 2010. She won re-election handily and was presiding over a Town Hall meeting in a Tucson supermarket parking lot when Mr. Loughner burst through the crowd and began spraying bullets wildly.
Mrs. Giffords has vowed to return to public service after she has more fully recovered from the horrible wounds inflicted by the gunman, one of which pierced her skull and penetrated her brain.
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