The controversy over a heavily brain-damaged Florida woman, who has been kept on life support over the past 15 years, took a dramatic turn Saturday when congressional leaders invoked emergency powers to pass a bill they hope will result in the woman's resumed feeding.
The move that postponed the Easter recess for the Senate and called the House of Representatives back into session added a new dimension to the high-profile case, which has been embraced by religious conservatives who argue that innocent life, no matter its quality, cannot be taken away.
The White House, for its part, announced that President George W. Bush will return to Washington from his Texas ranch earlier than planned Sunday, ready to sign the measure into law.
Forty-one-year-old Terri Schiavo has been in a persistent vegetative state for the past 15 years following a cardiac arrest that sent her into a coma.
Her feeding tube was removed Friday, after a protracted legal battle that pits the woman's husband, Michael Schiavo, against her parents, Bob and Mary Schindler.
Michael Schiavo insists Terri should be allowed to die because that was her wish communicated to him when she was well, but the Schindlers argue their daughter should be kept alive through life support and have questioned Michael's fitness to serve as his wife's guardian.
A Florida state judge, believing Michael Schiavo's testimony about his wife's wishes, had ordered her caregivers to stop feeding her. But Friday's removal of the feeding tube has caused an outcry among Christian conservatives and many others, who say Terri Schiavo is being starved to death.
Springing into action, congressional leaders first sought to block the removal of the tube by issuing subpoenas to Terri and her husband, summoning both to a congressional hearing. But when the Florida judge rejected the move, they opted for legislative action.
Under a compromise crafted by Senate and House negotiators Saturday, a federal district judge will receive jurisdiction over the case, thus setting the stage for a new protracted round of litigation.
House Republican Majority Leader Tom DeLay said he was not certain the federal judge will rule any differently that the state courts. But he was he was sure the feeding tube will have to be reinserted while the case is being considered.
"It's almost automatic. The tube will have to go back in so that he can consider this matter," DeLay told reporters.
Speed was of the essence, the majority leader insisted, because with feeding tube removed, Terri Schiavo could die of dehydration as early a week from now.
From outside Terri's hospice in Pinellas Park, Florida, Mary Schindler made a passionate appeal to Washington politicians: "Please, please, please save my little girl!"
Almost immediately, House Speaker Dennis Hastert and Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist said they were using their emergency powers to call lawmakers back into session to pass the bill.
The House was expected to come back from its recess Sunday while the Senate, which had already approved a similar measure, was to postpone the break and work through the weekend to ensure final passage of the compromise bill.
White House spokesman Scott McClellan said Bush was standing with all those working to save Terri's life and wanted to be at the White House as Congress considered the issue.
"The president intends to sign legislation as quickly as possible once it is passed," McClellan said in Crawford, Texas. "This is about defending life."
Even before Congress and the president announced the new moves, Terri's husband denounced what he saw as attempts by lawmakers to exploit the case for political gain.
"For Congress to come in and interfere in a personal family matter is outrageous," he said appearing on CBS's "Early Show." "They can do it to me, they'll do it to every person in this country."