Gabrielle Giffords Nudges the Super Committee to Get Its Act Together

The office of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords coordinated a bi-partisan effort to urge the members of the super committee to get something done. The general thrust of the resulting letter (PDF) signed by 11 Republicans and 14 Democrats matches a bill to lower lawmakers' salaries that Giffords proposed a few days before Giffords was shot in the head at a constituent event in January. Now that Giffords has survived against all odds, learned how to walk and talk all over again, returned to the House to vote on the debt ceiling deal and spoken about her struggle on national primetime television, it seems like the super committee ought to take a second and consider her request, for the super committee to consider giving themselves a 5 percent pay-cut. It would save the country $50 million over the next ten years. Giffords said when she introduced the legislation, "Members of Congress can't ask any American to cut back before we are willing to make some sacrifices of our own."