US President George W. Bush signed emergency legislation early yesterday aimed at prolonging the life of a brain-damaged Florida woman by asking federal courts to take up the case. Bush signed the legislation after an unusual intervention by lawmakers that put Congress in the middle of a bitter family dispute and tried to circumvent years of court rulings against keeping Terri Schiavo on a feeding tube. ?Today, I signed into law a bill that will allow federal courts to hear a claim by or on behalf of Terri Schiavo for violation of her rights relating to the withholding or withdrawal of food, fluids, or medical treatment necessary to sustain her life,? Bush said in a written statement.

Bush cut short a Texas vacation and flew back to Washington to be available to sign the bill immediately in a bid to restore the feeding tube that was removed from Schiavo, 41, on Friday. While the law does not order the tube restored, it would allow a federal judge to do so while the case is reviewed.

The House of Representatives passed the measure 203-58 shortly after midnight following three hours of debate. The Senate cleared it unanimously on Sunday. ?We are very, very thankful to have crossed this bridge,? Suzanne Vitadamo, Schiavo?s sister, said after the House vote. ?We are hopeful, we are very hopeful, that the federal courts will follow the will of Congress and save my sister?s life.? The measure gives US District Court in Tampa, Florida, jurisdiction on a case that has been taken up by Republican congressional leaders and galvanized activists on both sides of the emotional end-of-life issue.

Several Democrats objected, calling the legislation a political exploitation of a tragic family matter that undermines Florida courts and states? rights. But House Republican leader Tom DeLay of Texas said: ?This is not a political issue. This is life and death, and this is a bipartisan attempt to save this life.? Schiavo has been fed through a stomach tube since a heart attack starved her brain of oxygen in 1990, leaving her in what the courts declared was a persistent vegetative state. Schiavo?s husband and legal guardian, Michael Schiavo, has long argued ? and has been supported by the courts ? that his wife would not have wanted to live in such a condition.

The tube feeding has twice been halted and resumed in the past amid legal wrangles. Schiavo was expected to survive for one to two weeks without it at the Florida hospice that cares for her. Until now, federal courts have turned the case back to state courts, but intense lobbying by Christian conservatives and widespread publicity pushed lawmakers to act on behalf of Schiavo and her parents, who say she is responsive and can be rehabilitated.

<B>Right to live</B>

?I got a big smile out of her face, so help me God,? said Schiavo?s father, Bob Schindler, who told CNN he spoke to his daughter after the vote. ?She seemed to be very pleased. And we?re pleased.?

In the House debate, Republican Rep. James Sensenbrenner, the Judiciary Committee chairman, said Florida?s courts were ?enforcing a merciless directive to deprive Terri Schiavo of her right to life.? But Rep. Barney Frank, a Massachusetts Democrat, said lawmakers were voting according to their own ideological bias, not necessarily in Schiavo?s interest. ?I don?t know what her wishes were, but neither do any of you,? he said.