mr. speaker , this has been an extraordinarily serious debate . 
it has been in many ways a real debate , with each member rising and understanding the seriousness of the issues which we consider . 
on the one hand , we consider the life of one young woman , a young woman struck by tragedy , shared by her family and by her friends and by her country . 
one of the striking facts of american life and american culture is the great importance that america puts on the individual : one life , one swallow that god cares for and plans for . 
we are here as colleagues who have almost to a person experienced the same kind of pain and trauma that the schiavo family now faces . 
the gentlewoman from ohio correctly stated that terri is loved by her husband , by her parents , by her brother , by others in her family . 
those of us who have been in that place know how difficult it is . 
i had not expected , as my colleagues had not expected , to be back in this house to consider this legislation . 
when we were called back by the speaker , and the leader and i discussed the circumstances under which the call would come , trying to accommodate members as best as possible , i did what i presumed many of you did . 
i referred to the facts that i could find . 
on the one hand , my reaction was that i am concerned that we appear to be a congress that is flexible on the jurisdiction of courts . 
when we agree with the decisions that courts make , we leave them jurisdiction . 
when we think they may make a decision that we want , we try to give them additional jurisdiction . 
but when we disagree with the courts , we have had legislation on this floor in recent months to take from them jurisdiction . 
if we pursue that course as a country , i suggest to you that we will become a nation of men and of politicians , not a nation of laws . 
the fact that we are a nation of laws has distinguished us very greatly from many other nations of the world , and we have held up that distinction as a critically important one . 
we now have troops arrayed in iraq to support that principle , of the individual , of freedom , and of law . 
so i believe tonight , mr. speaker , that every member will vote on behalf of terri schiavo tonight , but they will see their responsibility in that act differently . 
i believe , mr. speaker , they will see it honestly and sincerely , and realizing the duty they have by lifting their hand and swearing an oath to our constitution and to our country . 
so , mr. speaker , i did , as i said what i suppose many have done , i went to the proceedings that have occurred in the terri schiavo case , caused by the absence of a written directive . 
i have three daughters , mr. speaker . 
they are all adults . 
they do not live with me now , but i see them regularly and i love them dearly . 
and since the loss of their mother , we have become even more close . 
and i heard the gentlewoman from florida ( ms. ginny brown-waite ) speak , and as i heard her speak i felt a tear when she referred to mr. wolfson , whom i do not know , but whose report i have read . 
mr. wolfson was asked not by the mother and father , not by the husband , but by the state to try to determine as best he could what the medical evidence led him to conclude . 
he was not an advocate of the parents or of the husband . 
he perceived himself correctly as the advocate of terri schiavo . 
his report is a compelling one . 
the gentlewoman from florida ( ms. ginny brown-waite ) said that she knows mr. wolfson , and knows him to be a man of wisdom and deep compassion and with a sense of responsibility . 
then she spoke of her own daughter and such a condition , and the discussion she had with her daughter , and i hope many of you heard her say this , that her daughter said to her that if she was in that state she would not want to be left in that state by her mother , and she said , `` no , mom , if you really loved me , you would let me go to my rest and be with god. '' if i thought the florida courts had dealt with this in a superficial and uncareful way , perhaps , perhaps i would feel that we ought to interpose our view . 
but no fair reading of the court 's decision at the lower court , no fair reading of the disposition by the district court of the united states , in which they said in quoting judge altobrand of the supreme court of florida , `` not only has mrs. schiavo 's case been given due process , but few , if any similar cases , have ever been afforded this heightened level of process. '' this report is approximately 50 pages long that was issued by mr. wolfson . 
i urge my friend , the gentleman from missouri ( mr. blunt ) xz4000340 to read this . 
he said he had not . 
all of us ought to read it . 
this case , tragically , is not alone in the circumstances that have occurred . 
the report says that the schindler family members stated that even if theresa 's family had been told of her intention , the family members , mom and dad , had been told of her intention to have artificial nutrition withdrawn , they would not do it . 
all of us can understand that , hopefully . 
the wrenching decision that it would be for a parent to take an action which would inevitably lead to the loss of life of their daughter . 
throughout this painful and difficult trial , mr. wolfson went on , the family acknowledged that teresa was in a diagnosed persistent vegetative state . 
the report seems to indicate to me that any fair reading of it would say that very careful consideration had been given . 
i know that there are some doctors among us who have looked at reports and perhaps looked at tapes and concluded , contrary to the doctors who have examined her , that this was not the case . 
the court , however , in an evidentiary hearing and after due consideration said clear and convincing evidence at the time of trial supported a determination that mrs. schiavo would have chosen in february 2000 to withdraw the life-prolonging procedures , so that it has been concluded by all of the fact finders in the court systems of the united states , in the state of florida , under the statutes , as the chairman has pointed out , established by the state of florida to deal with this extraordinarily difficult human issue because , like birth , death will come to us all . 
to some of us it will come in a way that will not raise such wrenching questions , but some few of us will individually and with our families have to face this decision ; and properly the system should be followed to protect us so that neither a husband nor a mother nor a father nor anybody else can make that decision in a manner that is not fair , that does not have due process and does not protect us as individuals . 
in reading the record , mr. speaker , i have concluded that the state of florida in its wisdom provided for that process and accomplished that end . 
because of that and because i care about our federal system and because i care about our constitution and , yes , because i care not knowing her individually but because i care for her as a child of god , i believe that this legislation should not pass . 
