I'm not a lucky guy, nor do I have a particularly good sense of timing (just ask the girls I asked to any of my high school dances). But in what is hopefully a sign of more good luck to come, I happened to witness what might be the defining moment of the 112th congress.
To give a little context, I've been following the debt ceiling debate pretty closely over the past two weeks. It's almost impossible not to living only two blocks away from the capitol building. Even so, I've gone a little overboard - listening to c-span for hours every day as I complete database work for my internship, reading the Washington Post on my phone during lunch breaks, and I’ve had this recurring dream where President Barack Obama and Speaker of the House John Boehner get married in New York.
As such, I was naturally quite excited to hear that a solution was on the horizon just before Tuesday's final deadline. Since I had invested so much time over the past month following the debate, I decided to call up my good friend and fellow Glenn Fellow Joe Flarida to see if he’d be interested in trying to catch the vote after work.
We met up at the Capitol Visitors Center around 6:30, checked our cell phones and bags with security, and headed into the gallery. The chamber of the House of Representatives is a beautiful room and absolutely buzzing with energy when full of frenzied congressmen. We arrived just as they announced that the bill was to be voted on, but we were only permitted to stay for 20 minutes. Luckily enough, this vote took 15 minutes, a pretty standard time allotment because of the limited number of voting devices. There was little to do other than sit back and people watch as the Representatives milled around. Some Congressmen were talking quickly in groups and trying to figure out if they’ll have enough votes, others were chatting amicably with friends.
Joe and I were pointing out various "celebrity" congressman. We took note of famous republicans Ron Paul and Paul Ryan, the Representatives who had been running the debates David Dreier and Louise Slaughter, as well as minority leader Pelosi and Speaker Boehner. Soon, it became very apparent that the house would succeed in passing the compromise. I thought that would be the piece of history I got to take with me back to Columbus in the fall.
That’s when Gabrielle Giffords showed up.
With two minutes left in the debate, Rep. Giffords tentatively walked into the chamber. Slowly, as people realized what was going on, thunderous applause filled the room. Everyone was stunned; only a few congressmen had been informed that she’d be coming to vote. It’s difficult to recall in the excitement, but the first standing ovation had to have lasted at least three minutes. There were several more to come after the congresswoman had voted and Speaker Boehner announced the bill had passed. Despite the bitter partisanship of recent months, both republicans and democrats united in honoring Giffords’ tenacity.
The vote was her first after six months of recovery from an assassination attempt. It signifies not only an incredible amount of personal strength and courage, but it also indicates the importance that the debt issue has for the short and long term future of our country.
I am honored to have borne witness to her return. It’s amazing how lucky we were – 15 minutes earlier or 15 minutes later and we would have missed the moment completely, a moment that will give me chills every time I think about it for years to come.
tl;dr: Rep. Gabby Giffords left me and everyone else in the House of Representatives totally stunned tonight.
Steven
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