Biden jokes Giffords is in 'cracked head club'
By Catalina Camia, USA TODAYUpdated 50m agoCAPTIONBy P.K. Weis, AFP/Getty ImagesUpdated at 9:52 a.m. ET
Count Vice President Biden among those excited to see Rep. Gabrielle Giffords at the U.S. Capitol yesterday.
Biden, who got advance notice from Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi that Giffords would show up, told reporters that the Arizona Democrat called him "Joe" when she saw him.
"I said, 'Now we're both members of the Cracked Head Club,' " Biden is quoted as saying in The Boston Globe.
Giffords was shot in the head Jan. 8 in a rampage during one of her constituent events in Tucson. Six people died.
The vice president has survived two craniotomies to remove brain aneurysms. His comment to Giffords yesterday was reported by The Washington Post, ABC News and others.
Giffords' surprise appearance on the House floor -- where she cast a "yes" vote on the debt-limit bill -- drew an outpouring of joy from members of both political parties. At one point, Biden told reporters that he was hugging Giffords and GOP presidential hopeful Michele Bachmann -- and that he likes the Minnesota congresswoman.
Amid all the partisan strife, Biden told reporters that Congress has the ability to set it all aside. "There's basic humanity here...It matters between people," he said.
Giffords' brief visit raised the inevitable question about when she'll return to Congress. "There's no clear predictions," her close friend, Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, said today on CBS' Early Show.
On MSNBC's Morning Joe program, Wasserman Schultz said Giffords' friends are "getting her ready to make sure she can run for re-election" so "she doesn't have to start from scratch."
Wasserman Schultz, chairwoman of the Democratic National Committee, and other colleagues House colleagues have hosted fundraisers for Giffords and kept the Arizona Democrat's campaign account stocked.
Giffords is now back in Houston, undergoing more rehab.