As a superdelegate, she also didn't take sides in the race for the 2008 Democratic nomination, casting her vote for Obama only after Hillary Rodham Clinton conceded. But Giffords has been making her mark on some signature issues.

Health-Care Reform

Giffords supported the March 2010 passage of President Obama's health-care legislation, despite intense political pressure and the breaking of a door at her Tucson office in the vote's aftermath.

"I have decided to vote for health insurance reform because it fundamentally is the right thing to do," Giffords explained. "As a member of the fiscally responsible Blue Dog coalition, I am very pleased that this legislation is fully paid for and will reduce our budget deficit by $138 billion over the next decade."

The Economy

When the first financial-bailout package came before Congress in fall 2008, Giffords received more than 4,000 phone calls from constituents. The opinions were split 50-50, she said-between 'no' and 'hell no.' She voted against it, helping to sink the bill.

After the stock market took a dive, however, her district seemed more open to the idea of federal help, and with additional safeguards for transparency and accountability, Giffords voted for the final version-the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act-which pumped $4.2 billion into Arizona, currently suffering from a $1.6 billion budget shortfall.

Giffords also worked hard to sell solar-energy development and green jobs as an economic-stimulus measure, saying that the state's more than 300 sunny days annually are a "God-given opportunity" to turn Arizona into the nation's solar-energy capital.

To that end, Giffords sponsored legislation for research-and-development of solar technology that passed in the omnibus energy bill of late 2007, and introduced legislation that would extend tax credits to manufacturers of solar technology.

Military and Space

With two military bases in it, the armed forces are an important issue in the Arizona 8th - defense contractor Raytheon is the district's biggest employer. Giffords was awarded a plum seat on the House Armed Services Committee, and helped to craft the GI bill passed in May 2008 that provided education, health and tax benefits for returning veterans and their families.

She also introduced a bill that would help provide incentives for service members to learn strategic languages, which she calls "fighting terrorism in the classroom."

Perhaps the issue closest to Giffords' heart, however, is space exploration; her husband Mark has piloted numerous space-shuttle trips, including one to deposit a Japanese experiment module on the International Space Station.

In January 2009, Giffords was appointed to head the Science and Technology Committee's subcommittee on Space and Aeronatics, making her a key player in NASA's crucial decision on whether to retire the space-shuttle fleet by October 2010 or to authorize more shuttle flights.

Immigration

In a state that sees a large influx of immigration, Giffords campaigned for the House on immigration reform, criticizing the federal government for saddling border communities with the burden of the arrivals. But with a half- brother born and raised in Mexico and having spent time in Latin America, Giffords doesn't toe the hardline of many lawmakers representing border states.

Arguing that there are deficiencies in E-Verify, the voluntary system for determining the citizenship status of employees, Giffords proposed the creation of a national, mandatory employee registration that would authenticate worker identities.

She also led the fight for full funding of the State Criminal Alien Assistance Program, which provides federal dollars to offset the costs of border control in states - and may be on the chopping block in President Obama's push to trim the budget.

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