The frenzied activity in Washington this weekend belied a crisis. House members returned to their chambers during a holiday recess to vote. President Bush, for the first time in his presidency, returned to Washington during a vacation. The political theater surrounded Terri Schiavo, the brain-damaged Florida woman at the center of a bitter debate over whether she should continue to be kept alive.

The House voted 203 to 58 to pass a bill that gave Ms. Schiavo’s parents the right to bring federal litigation. With no objections, a similar measure was approved by a voice vote in the Senate with only a handful of senators present. President Bush signed the bill

into law shortly after 1 a.m. yesterday. A state judge ruled Friday that Ms. Schiavo’s feeding tube should be removed, which happened later that day. A federal judge in Tampa, a Clinton appointee who was randomly assigned the case by computer, began hearing the case Monday afternoon.

“In cases like this one, where there are serious questions and substantial doubts, our society, our laws, and our courts should have a presumption in favor of life. This presumption is especially critical for those like Terri Schiavo, who live at the mercy of others,” the president said in a statement issued after the signing.

If the president and Congress are truly concerned about life and those who live at the mercy of others, they should broaden their perspective. Then they would ensure that health care programs were adequately funded so Americans did not die needlessly because they can’t afford insurance and medical care. They would negotiate with drug companies to ensure lower prices so that Americans, both old and young, could afford lifesaving medications without worrying about the financial consequences.

On a global scale, the richest country in the world would fund a much larger portion of AIDS research and prevention so millions of people in Africa would not die each year. It would do so without worrying about the political and religious messages that came with lifesaving treatment. It would work with the United Nations to stop the civil wars and massacres in Africa and Asia. It would stop supporting countries, such as Saudi Arabia, that routinely imprison and torture its citizens.

These are all difficult issues that don’t lend themselves to sound bites. So, Congress is content to run on the suffering of the Schiavo and Schindler families. As Rep. James Moran, a Virginia Democrat, said, the victims that his colleagues pledge they want to

help have become nothing more than political pawns.

This became clear over the weekend, when a Republican memo came to light suggesting that the Schiavo case was a “great political issue” that could help the GOP with Christian conservatives in the 2006 midterm elections.

As Terri Schiavo’s life continues

to hang in the balance, this weekend’s spectacle in Washington is cause

for shame.