mr. speaker , 2 , 000 years ago jesus christ entered jerusalem on palm sunday , marking the beginning of a week that throughout history and the world over has signified the sanctity of human life . 
tonight we are here on palm sunday to afford the greatest presumption of life possible under our united states constitution to a woman who has never truly been afforded representation and whose wishes are truly unknown . 
this is not about the sanctity of the schiavo marriage . 
that is a matter between terri and michael . 
mr. schiavo has got some answering to do himself . 
any insinuation otherwise is clear hypocrisy and nothing more . 
and this is not about congressional interference into a family issue . 
i agree that it should be a family issue . 
the problem is terri 's parents want her to live , and terri 's husband wants her to die . 
and terri did not use a living will to tell us what she would want . 
so before an irreversible decision is made , her country must afford her the due process to which she is entitled under the 14th amendment of our constitution . 
that means that the state of florida may not starve terri to death unless every legal resource to prevent it has been taken . 
death by starvation , as we have already heard tonight , is lengthy and incredibly painful . 
and terri schiavo can feel pain . 
the bill that we are going to pass is going to give her due process before she is sentenced to die in this painful manner . 
convicted serial killers and other death row inmates are afforded federal review in their cases . 
the constitution confers upon this congress the power to effect the authority on the federal courts to conduct this kind of review , and that is what i hope we do here tonight . 
it is square within our powers , it respects the separation between the legislative and the judicial branches , and it holds to the principles of federalism . 
there is going to be hollow rhetoric in this chamber tonight about the need for investigations and about reviewing facts before acting and about attempts to politicize religious beliefs . 
but where were these arguments last wednesday night when we passed a bill for terri unanimously under voice vote ? 
and where were these arguments friday afternoon when judge greer ignored a congressional subpoena designed to allow us the chance to get more information ? 
the supreme court has stated that the authority to subpoena is an `` indispensable ingredient '' of congress ' legislative power . 
judge greer 's friday order expressly disregards that authority , and he should be held in contempt of this body . 
like michael schiavo , the judge has some answering to do . 
we have a woman who has n't had food or drink in over two days . 
we made efforts in the ordinary course of legislative business to afford terri schiavo her constitutional rights , and they were rejected . 
now , we are left with no choice but to implement extraordinary means in the middle of the night . 
whether you 're using morality , or religion , or the golden rule , or legal analysis to guide your decision , at the root of all this is a living , breathing american citizen who has been deprived of her rights . 
this measure will correct that , so i urge all my colleagues to support it . 
