“The reports that I’ve been getting from her husband are very positive. You see what’s in the press,” Pelosi said. “And we’ll be looking forward to welcoming her back to her committee assignments and her special commissions that I’m just about to appoint her to, the board of the West Point of the U.S. military academy … which is something that she wanted.”

Pelosi was among the group who’d seen Giffords’s signs of progress upon visiting her in the hospital last week, when she opened her eyes for the first time. If Giffords were to return to Congress, it would be a remarkable recovery by virtually any medical standard.