Congress' Hypocrisy in the Schiavo Case

Congress' Hypocrisy in the Schiavo Case
By U.S. Rep. James Moran

April 12, 2005

The U.S. Congress turned a family tragedy into a political travesty with the case of Terri Schiavo. By ignoring the Constitutional and legal principles of states' rights, separation of powers and sanctity of marriage, we created a precedent that will come back to haunt us for generations to come.

The unprecedented Congressional action to pick sides in the fully adjudicated Schiavo family dispute, contributed to a 24/7 media circus over an issue that we were never factually, legally nor morally equipped to deal with. The media saturation has forced many Americans to confront such end of life decisions affecting their own loved ones, but that may be the only silver lining to an otherwise shameful chapter of Congressional history.

On the very same day that the House first voted to intervene within a family's personal tragedy, the House also approved a federal budget resolution that would limit the lives of millions of elderly and disabled people dependent on Medicaid funding for their long-term care.

The budget resolution, which passed with the same Leadership's insistence, sets forth the Congress's spending priorities for the next decade. The biggest cut called for reducing Medicaid by $20 billion. Seventy percent of the elderly and disabled in nursing homes are dependent on Medicaid funding for their subsistence. The House-passed cuts will force states, which must come up with an approximate 50 percent matching share, to strip coverage to millions of low-income and disabled people over the next five years. The irony here is that unlike Ms. Schiavo, most of the individuals who will be affected by these Medicaid cuts are fully aware of their condition, are capable of reflecting on their abandonment and, but not for their economic misfortune or the accident of their birth, might be capable of a much fuller and longer life.

We received no urging to maintain this sustenance from any of the groups aligned to extend Terri Schiavo's biological life. Most of the members who voted to overturn the state courts' decisions also voted to cut this long-term care funding.

The irony here is apparent only if you believe that quality of life matters too, that while life may be a terminal condition we have an obligation to work toward creating the kind of nurturing, caring environment that gives every family reason to celebrate the fullness of joy and reflection that makes the lives of their loved ones worth living. The majority of my "pro-life" colleagues consistently vote to cut developmental child care, affordable health care and quality nursing home care. At the same time, most of them fight adamantly to maximize the number of births and the length of life.

Given the political and ideological chasm that exists in the Congress today, it would be naïve to think that the term "culture of life" can be expanded to recognize the needs of the born as well as the unborn and those abandoned in poorly funded nursing homes, as well as those in the spotlight of political exploitation. But wouldn't it be wonderful if the same compassionate concentration of emotion and immediacy of purpose could be focused on what this Congress was elected to be doing with its power.

http://www.moran.house.gov/statements2.cfm?id=373