Rep. Gabrielle Giffords’s doctor says it will be about a year before it can be known whether she can return to Congress, bringing into question whether she will be able to meet Arizona’s May 2012 filing deadline for reelection.

“I think in about a year or so, we will have a better idea of what her functional abilities are going to be eventually,” Dr. Gerard Francisco, who is overseeing Giffords’s recovery, told POLITICO.