ROUGH CUT (NO REPORTER NARRATION)<br/> STORY: Representative Gabrielle Giffords, shot in the head during a shooting spree in Tucson, Arizona, last year, formally submitted her resignation from Congress on Wednesday (January 25) to focus on her recovery.<br/> In an emotional ceremony on the floor of the House of Representatives, Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz, a south Florida Representative and close friend of Giffords broke into tears as she read her resignation letter.<br/> "The tragic January eighth shooting in Tucson took the lives of six beautiful Americans and wounded 13 others, me included. Not a day goes by that I don't feel grief for the lives lost and so many others torn apart," Wasserman Schultz read on behalf of Giffords.<br/> Giffords was shot at close range when a gunman opened fire at her and bystanders gathered for a "Congress on Your Corner" meet-and-greet event outside a Tucson supermarket on January 8, 2011. Six people were killed, including a 9-year-old girl and a federal judge, and 13 others including Giffords were wounded.<br/> "I have given all of myself to be able to walk back onto the house floor this year to be able to represent Arizona's 8th Congressional District, however, today I know that now is not the time. I have more work to do on my recovery," Wasserman Schultz read.<br/> Giffords submitted her letter of resignation to House Speaker John Boehner and Arizona Governor Jan Brewer. Arizona law requires Brewer to call a special election to fill Giffords' seat.<br/> Seen as a rising political star and a centrist politician, Giffords was one of the Democrats who prevailed in the Republican sweep of swing districts in the November 2010 elections.<br/> Since the shooting, she has received intensive therapy at a Houston hospital for the brain injury she sustained in the shooting -- and has been assisted by her husband, retired astronaut Mark Kelly.
