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The House bade a tearful farewell to Representative Gabrielle Giffords of Arizona on Wednesday as she submitted her resignation and was praised by members of both parties as an inspiring symbol of courage in the aftermath of an assassination attempt against her last year.

“We come to the floor today, colleagues of Congresswoman Gabby Giffords, to salute her as the brightest star among us, the brightest star Congress has ever seen,” said the House Democratic leader, Representative Nancy Pelosi of California.

Ms. Giffords’ mother and husband looked on from the House gallery as Ms. Pelosi told the congresswoman: “You will be missed in the House of Representatives, but your legacy in this Congress and your leadership in our nation will certainly endure. So thank you for being who you are, for lifting our country at a very important and sad time.”

The sendoff for Ms. Giffords brought Democrats and Republicans together like no other event in the last year.

Speaker John A. Boehner wiped away tears when Ms. Giffords walked up to the dais with her friend, Representative Debbie Wasserman Schultz, Democrat of Florida, to hand over an envelope with her letter of resignation.

Ms. Giffords, a moderate Democrat in her third term, was one of 19 people shot in January 2011 at a meet-and-greet political event outside a grocery store in Tucson, her hometown. Six people, including a 9-year-old girl and a federal district judge, were killed in the shooting.

The congresswoman was grievously wounded and has spent the last year recovering from her injuries, keeping her absent from the House except for one occasion last summer for a vote to raise the debt ceiling. She decided in recent days that she was not yet ready or able to return to Congress and instead chose to resign so someone else could fill her seat in a special election to be held later this year.

“I have more work to do on my recovery before I can again serve in elected office,” Ms. Giffords, 41, said in a letter read aloud to the House by Ms. Wasserman Schultz. “If I can’t return, my district deserves to elect a U.S. representative who can give 100 percent to the job now.”

The House Republican leader, Representative Eric Cantor of Virginia, said Wednesday on the House floor: “We are inspired, hopeful and blessed for the incredible progress that Gabby has made in her recovery. Gabby’s courage, strength and her downright fortitude are an inspiration to all of us and all Americans.”

Mr. Cantor and others who spoke all raised the prospect that Ms. Giffords would return to public service in the future.

Ms. Wasserman Schultz, a Florida Democrat, said Ms. Giffords loved her constituents and wanted them to know “that her public service has meant a great deal to her, and that this is only a pause in that public service.”

Ms. Giffords was surrounded by colleagues in the well of the House and held hands with a conservative Republican from Arizona, Representative Jeff Flake, as Ms. Wasserman Schultz read the letter from Ms. Giffords to the speaker.

“Always I fought for what I was thought was right, but never did I question the character of those with whom I disagreed,” Ms. Giffords said in the letter. “Never did I let pass an opportunity to join hands with someone just because he or she held different ideals.”

Ms. Giffords expressed gratitude to her constituents, saying, “Even as I have worked to regain my speech, thank you for your faith in my ability to be your voice.”

“Every day I am working hard,” Ms. Giffords said in her letter. “I will recover and will return, and we will work together again for Arizona and for all Americans.”

Within minutes after the tributes to Ms. Giffords, the House, by a vote of 408 to 0, passed a bill she introduced this week to combat the use of small light aircraft in the smuggling of drugs and contraband across the border.

She had been working on similar legislation for years.

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(Source: NY Times)