The Debates We Don’t Have in Washington, but Should

The Debates We Don’t Have in Washington, but Should
18 March 2005

The debate about Terry Schiavo has brought up a lot of questions. It’s a heated debate that with hope, will soon be over. The judge presiding over the case has refused the request from House attorneys to delay the removal.

"I have had no cogent reason why the (congressional) committee should intervene," Circuit Judge George Greer told attorneys in a conference call, adding that last-minute action by Congress does not invalidate years of court rulings.

Rep. Henry Waxman of California, senior Democrat on the Government Reform Committee, called the subpoenas from Congress a "flagrant abuse of power.” (Rep. Waxman's Full Statement)

House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, R-Texas, told reporters in Washington earlier Friday that removal of the tube amounted to "barbarism."

Kerry strategist David Wade shared his thoughts on the Schiavo case earlier and the debates we don’t have in Washington.

“Watching Tom DeLay on CNN talking about the Terry Schaivo case right now, having seen Rick Santorum and Bill Frist talk yesterday about how Congress should do the 'moral thing' and intervene in this family matter, it got me thinking about the debates we don't have in Washington.”

MORE - http://www.lightupthedarkness.org/blog/default.asp?view=plink&id=579

"“Ms. Schaivo is a Medicaid patient. Medicaid is keeping her alive. Why don't we ask: Do these Republicans believe that paying the cost of caring for Ms. Schaivo indefinitely isn't as important as tax cuts for millionaires?”

“Do they acknowledge that the cuts President Bush has proposed may diminish Ms. Schaivo's care and care for so many others like her receiving Medicaid? If an HMO denied coverage, do they believe that Ms. Schaivo should have a Patient's Bill of Rights to fight for that care? Why did they oppose the Catholic Church on Medicaid cuts that may affect thousands of patients just like Terry Schaivo for years to come?”

“It seems like if we asked these questions, we might have a real discussion about who really cares about the most vulnerable people in our society.”

on this subject. We all need to be asking the Repub's these questions!

about this case. This is the really big picture.

I'm giving it a vote for greatest.

on budget issues have huge effects on people, life and death effects.

We should pull up some of Delay's quotes on Medicaid.

Of Delay's quotes with quotes from Kerry and others would be good.

I hope Howard Dean has DNC staff lurking here.

I have not seen anything.

Actually, I disagree with Wade using this tragic story. That looks as much political exploitation as the other side.

I would have liked somebody ask what this had to do in the Senate and am surprised nobody made this argument.

In his first paragraph he makes reference to Frist and Delay intervening on moral grounds into a family matter. So I think he did make the case.

Did you read Bush's statement?

“It should be our goal as a nation to build a culture of life… and that culture of life must extend to individuals with disabilities.”

Are you kidding me? While pushing to dismantle social security and cuts to health care, while refusing to do anything to solve health care in this country; he has the audacity to pretend to care about people with disabilities?

I don't like using this woman as a political tool either, but they're the ones who drug her into public debate. Especially now that they've apparently issued Senate subpoenas for her to "testify".

which is why I deplore David Wade's words, because I think they lessen the case against the Republicans.

I think it would have been very appropriate to object to the fact that the Republicans are using her as a political tool, to protest about the subpoenas, and I have seen no Democrats do that.

I am already mad because the Democrats did not object to the Senate bill, so dont ask me more.

about three Dems not backing the Senate bill. Another political setup saying how immoral we are. <puke> IMO, we should use the Medicaid strategy and fight back.

be on record as opposing the subpoenas and the bill.

If there was something to protest again first, it is the coup d'etat concerning the subpoenas, that was done in the back room and apparently thru Republicans only.

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=2270&ncid=1278&e=3&u=/krwashbureau/20050319/ts_krwashbureau/_bc_braindamagedwoman_wa

Except for Waxman, nobody is quoting as opposing the subpoenas and only Levin and Wyden in the Senate are in record as opposing the bill. Or, if they don't oppose that, they should say so as Reid and Conrad did when it came to the bill. I regret the voice vote.

From the link Mass posted:

"On the other side of Capitol Hill, Sens. Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania, Sam Brownback of Kansas, Mike Enzi of Wyoming, Frist and Martinez got a novel idea from a staff lawyer, according to a participant in one of the meetings.

The senators huddled around midnight and Enzi, chairman of the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, agreed to send an invitation to Schiavo and her husband to appear at a March 28 hearing in Washington.

The Senate had no intention of bringing Schiavo to Washington, Frist said, but the letter was designed to give her, as a prospective witness, federal protection and threaten criminal penalties against anyone changing her condition."

Here's another view of this as well -

Experts: Congress Shaky on Schiavo Actions - http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=512&ncid=1278&e=6&u=/ap/20050318/ap_on_go_co/brain_damaged_legal

appears to have passed on a "voice vote" with no roll call vote registered. There are not even any numbers as to how many agreed to it.

I'm afraid I agree with David Wade on this. Why aren't we asking these questions. When they want to cut programs like Medicaid that pay to prolong the live's of severely brain damaged people like Mrs. Schiavo, who will pay for her care? It's a fair and reasonable question to ask. Among other things.

They can't have it both ways and they are using her case as pawn. And her parents, IMHO.

Why no one speaking for him?

"Baby Sun had a fatal form of dwarfism which has always resulted in death shortly after the birth of the infant. It is usually diagnosed in utero, and I imagine makes up a portion of late term abortions. Wanda didn't have that knowledge when she gave birth however, as she had no prenatal care. Even if she had, the right to make a decision about a late term abortion isn't hers, yet a hospital can turn around and take the decision away from her after her child is born.

Yet we hear absolutely nothing of this landmark case in the national media. In fact, I had to go to 6 different news stories to find a picture of the mother and her baby. One newspaper had the poor taste to post a picture of the hospital. The lack of pictures was likely due to the fact that "the hospital has blocked the media from Hudson's invitation to see the baby."


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