Government Involvement in The Terri Schiavo Case - U.S. Congress

U.S. Congress

Schiavo's feeding tube was removed again on March 18, 2005 at 1:45 p.m. EST. Around the previous midnight, U.S. Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, a Republican from Tennessee, and Michael Enzi of Wyoming, also a Republican, announced that Schiavo would be called to testify before the U.S. Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions on March 28 in Washington. Frist served on the committee; Enzi was its chairman.

On March 21, Congress passed a bill, S.686, that allowed Schiavo's case to be moved into a federal court. The controversial law is colloquially known as the Palm Sunday Compromise. It passed the Senate on Sunday afternoon unanimously, 3-0, with 97 of 100 Senators not present. Meanwhile, in the House of Representatives, deliberation ran from 9pm EST to just past midnight during an unusual Sunday session. The bill was passed 203-58 (156 Republicans and 47 Democrats in favor, 5 Republicans and 53 Democrats against), with 174 Representatives (74 Republicans and 100 Democrats) not present on the floor at the time of the vote at 12:41 a.m. EST. President Bush returned from vacation in Crawford, Texas to sign the bill into law at 1:11 that morning.

Congress also considered another bill to prevent Schiavo's death, called the "Incapacitated Person's Legal Protection Act" (H.R. 1151).

Several members of the United States Congress who are also physicians offered medical opinions about her medical condition without having conducted their own examinations. Congressman Phil Gingrey, who is trained in obstetrics and gynecology, stated that, "The tragedy of the situation is that with proper treatment, now denied, Terri's condition can improve".