[Congressional Record Volume 151, Number 33 (Thursday, March 17, 2005)]
[House]
[Page H1625]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                       BILL SAVING TERRI SCHIAVO

  (Mr. PITTS asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. PITTS. Mr. Speaker, last night when H.R. 1332 was passed by the 
House this Chamber did a good thing. It offered to the disabled an 
opportunity to live and it reaffirmed our culture's desire to value the 
right to life of each and every member of it regardless of disability.
  This bill gives Terri Schiavo a right to appeal the ruling of the 
Florida State courts in Federal court, and it will allow her to 
challenge the ruling that she is to starve to death.
  The bill applies only to medically incapacitated patients, not to 
convicted criminals. And it is further evidence that the disabled have 
a place in our culture, that life has a place in our culture.
  I commend the chairman of the committee, the gentleman from Wisconsin 
(Mr. Sensenbrenner) and the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Weldon) for 
taking the lead and I thank the House leadership for expediting action 
on it. Now the Senate must do the same. Terri deserves to live.

                          ____________________