Updated

The problem facing the House on the 9-11 bill is time.

If the Senate has to invoke cloture on 9-11 health, that could take days taking us past the Christmas holiday.

So House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer is trying to get the 9-11 health bill on the floor tomorrow and pray that the Senate can get him a bill.

Speaker Nancy Pelosi tells Fox the House wouldn't "re-orginate" the bill. In other words, re-start the process by passing the same bill the Senate hopes to approve and then wash their hands of it. Pelosi says that would take too much time.

By the same token, the House is rapidly losing members who are throwing in the towel and just leaving town, regardless of what's on the floor.

"It's a big problem," said Hoyer as he hustled into a Democratic leadership meeting in Pelosi's office. "We're short about 80 (members) right now."