In sharp contrast to Justice Kennedy, House Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R.-Tex.) showed courage and determination in dealing with Schiavo situation. After House members had left town for their Easter recess, he called them back over the Palm Sunday weekend, pushed through legislation that should have given Terri Schiavo her day in federal court, and forcefully challenged the Senate to pass the legislation, too.
"That act of barbarism [starving Terri Schiavo] can be and must be prevented," DeLay said March 18. "Those senators responsible for blocking our bill yesterday afternoon-Senator [Barbara] Boxer [D.-Calif.], Senator [Ron] Wyden [D.-Ore.] and Senator [Carl] Levin [D.-Mich.]-have put Mrs. Schiavo's life at risk to prove a point; an unprecedented profile in cowardice." DeLay pledged: "This is not over. We haven't stopped working on it. We will fight for Terri's life and spend all the time necessary to do that. So to friends, family and millions of people praying around the world this Palm Sunday weekend: Don't be afraid. Terri Schiavo will not be forsaken." And, in Tom Delay's House, she most certainly was not.
