WP: Post-Schiavo Questions Await Congress's GOP Leaders

[kskiska]

Republican congressional leaders return to Washington today to confront a political landscape that's considerably more problematic than the one they left two weeks ago, when the House and Senate adjourned for Easter recess.

The searingly emotional Terri Schiavo case divided Republican-leaning voters and drew Congress into an extraordinary Palm Sunday intervention, which is now fueling claims that party leaders are out of step with mainstream America.

House Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-Tex.), already battling ethics charges, added to his combative reputation by bitterly attacking state and federal judges who rejected pleas to keep the brain-damaged woman alive. Meanwhile, his allies were rattled by criticisms from several conservative publications, including a Wall Street Journal editorial that accused DeLay of abuses that "sooner or later will sweep him out."

President Bush's top priority, restructuring Social Security, made little if any progress despite his all-out campaigning during the recess, key lawmakers said. And the Senate seems closer than ever to a major collision over judicial nominations, a topic made even more emotional by the role of federal judges in the Schiavo case.

more…
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A26191-2005Apr4.html

[Erika]

1. As I've told democratic fund raisers and my DC reps

The feds do NOT belong in private family matters. I commend the state and federal judges who didn't go along with the cronyism of the far right-wingers and chose to stand by the state constitution instead.