Bill would reconnect feed tube

Congress is crafting legislation to keep Terri Schiavo alive.
KNIGHT RIDDER NEWSPAPERS
WASHINGTON -- Buttressed by a parent's anguished plea -- "Please, please, please save my little girl" -- congressional leaders announced an agreement Saturday that could reconnect Terri Schiavo to a feeding tube and move her case to federal court.
A bill could be signed by President Bush early this week. The latest, startling twist would mark the fourth time in 15 years that Schiavo would be hooked up to life support.
"We should investigate every avenue before we take the life from a human being," House Majority Leader Tom DeLay said during a news conference in Washington. "The least she deserves is to have the federal courts consider her case."
Outside the hospice in Pinellas Park, Fla., where Schiavo spent a second day without nutrition, her parents and sister moved among supporters, thanking them and receiving vigorous handshakes and hugs.
Family spokesman Randall Terry described them as heartened by the action but acutely aware that they "were not out of the woods yet."
No immediate reaction came from Schiavo's husband and guardian, Michael Schiavo, who thought he had won a final battle to remove her from life support.
Already rebuffed by the highest federal and state courts, DeLay and other Republican members of Congress pushed ahead throughout the day and into the night with their legislative crusade on behalf of the severely brain-damaged Florida woman.
Federal protection
Their objective: Pass a bill that would cloak Schiavo -- and only Schiavo -- in some degree of federal protection and allow her parents to seek federal appeal of their legal setbacks in Florida courts.
"We are confident this compromise will restore nutrition and hydration to Mrs. Schiavo as long as that appeal endures," DeLay said. "Obviously, the judge will have to put the feeding tube back in or she could die before the case is heard."
He and other Republicans said the bill had considerable Democratic support, largely because it was tailored for Schiavo and would not necessarily set a wider precedent. Rep. James Oberstar, a Democrat from Minnesota, said the legislation "should be adopted by both bodies without extensive deliberation."
The measure requires several parliamentary maneuvers -- one was under way Saturday night in the Senate -- and could be ready for President Bush by Monday or Tuesday. The White House has signaled that the president would sign such a bill.
The tube that supplied water and nutrition to Schiavo was removed Friday after her parents ran out of options in state court and a previous strategic move by DeLay and other Republicans -- a House subpoena naming Schiavo -- failed to impress the Florida and U.S. supreme courts.
With that, the final chapter appeared to have begun.
As ethical, legal and political controversies boiled around her, Schiavo was expected to linger for a week or two until death arrived. She is 41 and has been on life support since 1990.
Schiavo suffered severe brain damage in February 1990, apparently triggered by the effects of an eating disorder. Her parents and husband have engaged since at least 1993 in legal and public relations confrontations over her care and her fate.
Previous attempts
Twice before, in 2002 and 2003, the tube was disconnected. Twice before, legal or political entities swiftly intervened and hooked her up again.
Doctors say Schiavo's brain damage is irreversible and has left her in a vegetative state; her parents and some other relatives say they see glimmers of a younger Terri during their visits and they are not prepared to give up.
"It's clear to us Terri is very much alive and she just needs help," Bobby Schindler, Terri's brother, told NBC on Saturday. That assistance appeared to be arriving Saturday night from Capitol Hill.
In a rare display of speedy coordination, representatives of both chambers broke through an impasse that arose late Thursday, when the House and Senate passed two different bills, hours before each was to go into a two-week recess.
Both bills allowed Schiavo's parents to appeal before a federal court, but the Senate version was more restrictive than the House version, as some senators were wary of legislation that would set a wider legal precedent.
DeLay and Rep. James Sensenbrenner, R-Wis., chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, ended up crafting a solution that essentially accepted the Senate version with what DeLay called "modest" modifications.
Maneuvering
As part of the deal and to comply with arcane congressional rules, the Senate held a special adjournment session Saturday evening ahead of the Easter recess. This was required before Speaker Dennis Hastert could call an emergency session of the House, scheduled for 1 p.m. today.
House leaders were hoping that a bill would be approved unanimously today. Should even one member object, the House will have to reconvene after 12:01 a.m. Monday.
Either way, it seemed certain that the bill would pass the House, then go back to the Senate for approval, and then move to the White House.
And it seemed very likely that the action would trigger fresh controversies concerning the balance between state rights and federal rights, and between the legislative branches and the judiciary, and between the government and individuals, especially over matters of life and death.