Newswire

Congress to Call Schiavo as Witness

Congress subpoenas Terri

WASHINGTON -- Shortly before a feeding tube was to be removed from a Florida woman, U.S. lawmakers on Friday called on Terri Schiavo to appear before congressional committees in an attempt to keep her alive.

House of Representatives leaders issued subpoenas for Schiavo while the Senate called her as a witness to congressional hearings to stave off the removal of her feeding tube, scheduled for 1 p.m.

Both the House and Senate also summoned her husband, Michael, who contends she would not have wanted to be kept alive in what court-appointed doctors describe as a persistent vegetative state.

"The Senate and the House remain dedicated to saving Terri Schiavo's life. While discussions over possible legislative remedies continue, the Senate and the House are taking action to keep her alive in the interim," said Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, a Tennessee Republican.

Federal law protects a witness "from anyone who ... influences, obstructs, or impedes an inquiry or investigation by Congress," Frist said.

Congressional aides said the protections are triggered as soon as the calls to appear as a congressional witness are issued.

The House Government Reform Committee hearing is set for March 25, and is expected to be held at the Florida hospice where Schiavo is being treated. The Senate Health, Education and Labor committee hearing is set for March 28.

The House general counsel also filed a motion in the state of Florida seeking a modification of the order for the feeding tube to be removed.

Schiavo has been fed through a tube since she suffered a heart attack in 1990.

"The state does not own Mrs. Schiavo's body and Congress cannot simply order her to remain alive contrary to her medical treatment wishes and court order," Michael Schiavo's lawyer George Felos, told Reuters by telephone.

"Tom DeLay and Dennis Hastert are not members of the Politburo in Stalinist Russia," Felos said, referring to the House majority leader and speaker, both Republicans.

Schiavo's parents are fighting to keep their daughter alive, saying she responds to them and could improve with rehabilitation. The right-to-die case has galvanized activists on both sides of issue.

The Republican congressional leaders made the last-minute bid after the House and Senate passed bills to keep the feeding tube in place, but failed to reconcile differences in the measures to get it signed into law by President Bush.

Bush, who was in Florida on Friday to talk about Social Security, backed efforts to prolong Schiavo's life.

"The president will continue to stand on the side of defending life," White House spokesman Scott McClellan said aboard Air Force One on the way to Pensacola.

Schiavo was in her mid-20s when she became ill and had no "living will" or written directive about end-of-life care. She remains at the Woodside Hospice in Pinellas Park, Florida, under police guard. Outside demonstrators held a prayer vigil.

She would not die immediately upon removal, but could be expected to die within seven to 14 days, doctors have testified.


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20050318/us_nm/rights_schiavo_congress_dc_23&printer=1

Posted by Editor at March 18, 2005 01:29 PM