With just hours to go before tonight's midnight deadline, the Senate is expected to vote at noon today on a deal to raise the nation's debt ceiling. It comes after the House vote last night, where 95 Democrats and 174 Republicans, including Speaker John Boehner, voted in favor of the bill. The bill is expected to pass in the Senate with an even higher margin than the House. Then, it will head to President Obama, where he will sign the legislation into law before the United States defaults on its obligations. But the moment of the night was the surprise appearance of Arizona Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords who returned to Washington to cast her vote in favor of the deal. It was her first time back on Capitol Hill since she was critically wounded in January's tragic shooting in Tucson. In a tweet, Giffords wrote, "the Capitol looks beautiful and I am honored to be at work tonight."
Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi thanked Giffords for returning to Washington to vote. She said, "we are all privileged to call her colleague, some of us very privileged to call her friend. Throughout America, there isn't a name that stirs more love, more admiration, more respect, more wishing for our daughters to be like her, than the name of Congresswoman Gabby Giffords." Later, Giffords' close friend, Democratic National Committee Chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz spoke about the Congresswoman's emotional return. She said, "there's so many doubters and skeptics but never doubt Gabby Giffords determination. This is the first of many votes she's going to cast."