[Congressional Record Volume 151, Number 33 (Thursday, March 17, 2005)]
[Senate]
[Pages S2969-S2970]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                             TERRI SCHIAVO

  Mr. SANTORUM. Thank you, Mr. President.
  Today we had an opportunity to discuss and pass a very important 
piece of legislation. Most people would think I am referring to the 
budget, which we spent the better part of the day on, but we spent 15 
precious minutes talking about an issue that many Americans are 
thinking about tonight; that is, the case of Terri Schiavo in the State 
of Florida. I wanted to congratulate my colleague from Florida, Senator 
Martinez, for his effort in drafting the piece of legislation that 
could get, frankly, the impossible done--to get in the midst of an at 
times rancorous budget debate--a very unique consensus in this place, 
unique in this respect: 100 Senators had to agree to pass this bill. It 
is difficult enough to get 100 people, much less 100 Senators, to agree 
to do anything, particularly during an often difficult process that we 
have been going through, but not only did we get 100 Senators to agree 
to allow this bill to be passed, but we did so when some Members on the 
other side of the aisle were not supporting the bill. That is somewhat 
remarkable.
  I give a lot of credit to the Senator from Florida, Senator Martinez, 
the two leaders, the ranking member of the Budget Committee, Senator 
Conrad, Senator Harkin, and others who worked to bring this issue to 
the Senate floor and to deal with it in a way that accomplished 
something vitally important; that is, giving the family of Terri 
Schiavo hope that the end will not begin tomorrow.
  I will talk more specifically about it. I will yield to my colleague, 
Senator Martinez, and Senator Brownback. Both have been obviously 
incredibly active and helpful.

  We are still working this process. The House has passed one bill, and 
we have passed a different one. I have been, as well as many here in 
this Chamber, back and forth between the House. I missed the next to 
the last vote because of meetings I was having over in the House. I 
never like to miss a vote, but I guess if we miss a vote, this is 
probably as good a reason to miss one.
  We are still working very hard to see if we can find some common 
ground so we can address this issue that is so vitally important--not 
allowing a death sentence to be handed down to a young woman without a 
Federal court review.
  We are working here on the Senate side very diligently. Not only do 
we work together to pass the bill Senator Martinez authored, but we are 
working on the House bill. There will be meetings tomorrow with several 
Members of the Senate who have concerns about that bill to determine 
whether there is a possibility that we can, in fact, accept the House 
bill on this side of the aisle. Those meetings will take place 
tomorrow, and we will have a session on Monday in which we can 
potentially, if we get an agreement, pass that bill. But that is 
something we are going to work on.
  I can tell you, having spoken to both Senator Reid and Senator 
Durbin, and others on the other side of the aisle--they have helped us 
arrange meetings with Members who have concerns about that issue, the 
House bill on the Democratic side of the aisle. We are putting those 
meetings together. We are going to have those discussions, we are going 
to see if this is something that can be acceptable and passed, and 
again we have to pass with unanimous consent. That process is underway.
  Many in this Chamber believe the House bill is a superior way to go. 
I know the House strongly feels that way. Relief provided in the House 
bill does something that is essential; that is, take the case out of 
the hands of the judge who seems determined to end the life of Terri 
Schiavo. Removing that case from that judge into the Federal court is 
the most effective way to get a fair hearing. I think that has a lot of 
merit.
  We are hopeful we can have this good discussion. But I will tell you 
we have had an air of cooperation here in the Senate that, candidly, 
was heartwarming. We sort of got past not just the particulars, because 
I don't think there is any politics in this, but even some of the 
philosophical and policy concerns that people have and understood the 
genuine concern that many Members here have for the evolving situation 
in Florida.
  I commend my colleagues. This was a very fine moment for the Senate. 
It is continuing to be that as we continue to search for an answer--an 
answer that can get the House and the Senate together. I am hopeful 
that the House will do likewise, will reflect on the Senate bill. I 
know it is a very difficult row to hoe for the House.
  We will be back in session on Monday. The House will be back in 
session on Monday. Again, I don't know whether we will be able to get 
anything solved by then. But I will tell you at least on the Senate 
side we will continue to work on that. We will continue to see if we 
can find some common ground. I am hopeful we will be able to reach--in 
fact, we must reach a conclusion.
  It would be unconscionable to leave with both parties having 
expressed a will to do something. Both bodies with identical intent and 
cannot find the words to come together to accomplish that joint intent 
that has passed overwhelmingly in both Chambers. That would be a crime 
on top of a crime that is being committed in the State of Florida.
  I am happy to yield to the Senator from Florida.
  Mr. MARTINEZ. Mr. President, I thank my colleague from Pennsylvania 
for the incredible work he has been doing on behalf of this woman in 
Florida. His guidance and leadership have been a great sign to me of 
how effective a Senate can be and how compassionate a heart can be as 
well. I echo his comments in terms of the cooperation in the Senate.
  I believe today Members of both parties came together to pass a bill 
that is designed to ensure this woman has an opportunity to have a 
review of her case by a Federal judge in the hopes that maybe her 
parents may prevail, but whatever the outcome may be, so she may have 
and we may be assured that every last measure of justice has been given 
to her.
  I also am very pleased the House of Representatives acted swiftly 
outside normal procedure in order to make this happen. I am very 
grateful for their work. I am grateful for what they did. It is 
unfortunate we came at it because of the rush of business over the last 
several days, the very shortened period of time we had available to end 
up with two versions of this bill that differ. Their approach, which is 
a removal of approach, is not specific to any one individual. I know 
the House, for very good reasons, for historical reasons of good faith 
and for very good reasons, has had a reticence to do a private or 
individual bill. I understand that concern. I also know how difficult 
it was for some Members on the other side of the aisle particularly to 
go along with that measure because it was interpreted by some to maybe 
be too broad.
  We are acting in good faith, and their concerns were, again, 
reasonable, while maybe I would disagree with them. Unfortunately, the 
only vehicle we could find in this very short timeframe was to utilize 
the bill we had in the Senate

[[Page S2970]]

which found favor enough for there to be unanimous consent to proceed.
  A number of inquiries have been made whether this is over. It is not. 
We continue to work diligently. We continue to work toward a solution, 
toward bringing the two bodies together so we can get a bill to the 
President. I am encouraged the President today has made it clear he 
will sign a bill if we get it to him. We must continue to work in this 
spirit of cooperation, not only among both sides of the aisle, majority 
and minority in the Senate, but also across this building, one end to 
the other, House and Senate, all intent on a result that will give this 
final review by a Federal court the opportunity for this woman to have 
that final measure of compassion, and at the end I am hopeful we will 
reach a solution.
  As my colleague from Pennsylvania stated, we will be in session on 
Monday, and we will continue to work and negotiate on this over the 
weekend, tomorrow, and I am very hopeful we will find a solution. I am 
an optimist, and I am of the belief that we will be able to prevail in 
this matter. I am very grateful for the help and cooperation from our 
leader, who has been working very diligently, who did the research 
medically, who became convinced about this case. I have had Members 
from both sides of the aisle say all day there is something about this 
case, that it seems like it ought to have one more review. That is the 
spirit in which we say this.
  I am happy to yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Kansas.
  Mr. BROWNBACK. I join my colleagues from Pennsylvania and Florida to 
talk about Terri Schiavo's case, and to the names of the people around 
the world who are praying for Terri Schiavo, a lady they have never 
known. They have seen pictures of her on television, but something is 
just striking at them, saying, this woman deserves to live. She 
deserves to have another review. The covenant with death needs to be 
broken, and will be.
  This body has spoken tonight in a bipartisan, unanimous fashion to 
work on this. There are a lot of opinions on the factual and legal 
issues surrounding it, but we came together unanimously to give her 
that right to have one more review by a Federal court.
  I thank Senator Reid from Nevada, who was very helpful in working 
this, Senator Wyden, who worked on things for his State, and Senator 
Levin. A number of people helped to make this move forward, and Senator 
Martinez carried the freight with Senator Santorum.
  This is a fine moment for this body, but it should not end here. I 
plead with those people involved directly, the courts directly involved 
in this, let this process move forward. Don't pull the tubes out 
tomorrow. We passed one bill in the House and one bill in the Senate. 
That should be extraordinary enough that they say this deserves one 
more look. Why wouldn't we give one more look? This is a purely 
innocent life we are talking about. The lengths we will go to for 
people who are convicted of a crime--we give much further review by a 
court of law. Here is a purely innocent life. Tomorrow, this could all 
end. But it shouldn't. It must not end that way.

  We have some differences between the House and Senate version. 
Frankly, for myself, I think the House version is good. We could not 
move that through. We will keep meeting here. I met with the House 
leadership and chairman in the House with concerns, feeling theirs is a 
better approach. That is accurate. That is the way to go.
  We are at a point in time where we should no longer have debate. We 
have to try to come together and plead with the court to hold this off 
so we can get moving. And more than that, a moral code in America right 
now is being discussed and is being acted upon through one person's 
life. It is so critical this be done right and be done thoughtfully and 
every chance for final review be given for an innocent life. A purely 
innocent life is at stake.
  I am confident we can come forward with that. We must come forward 
with that for the sake of Terri Schiavo and for the sake of this 
country and for its message around the world.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Washington.

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