Congress Goes out of Bounds (3/22/05)
by Dean Hartwell
First, it was the recent Congressional hearings on steroid use in professional baseball. Then it was the decision of Congress to pass legislation to give Terri Schiavo’s parents the right to sue to reconnect a feeding tube in Terri, a person in a persistent vegetative state. This Congress has clearly gone out of bounds.
As for baseball, the sport already has a commissioner and a player’s association to make rules on the use of steroids and other performance-enhancing substances. The league had already proposed rules to suspend players who use them long before the hearings.
The hearings, conducted by the House Government Reform Committee, included several former and present baseball stars who testified about steroids. Nothing new came up. Most of the players denied ever having used them. One player, Mark McGwire, would not answer the question as to whether he ever used them or not. And another, Jose Canseco, repeated admissions he made in his recently published book that he used them and that he injected some of his teammates.
The public thus did not benefit from these hearings. Nor did the sport of baseball. Congress abused its authority as a legislative branch by holding them. It is also hard to understand what baseball has to do with government reform.
Then there is the matter of Terri Schiavo. The courts of the state of Florida have already ruled in favor of her husband, who believes she would not want to have her life prolonged by a feeding tube. A federal court has previously ruled that her parents had no standing to intervene on her behalf to reconnect the tube.
So why does Congress get involved now?
Several Republican representatives during the recent debate over Schiavo referred to a “culture of life” and the need to assert “fundamental rights” for the disabled. Yet, according to Randi Rhodes of Air America, these same Republicans cut $15 billion from Medicaid, the very government service that has been aiding Terri Schiavo!
They also miss the point. Our legal system gives everyone a chance in court. Schiavo’s parents had their chance in Florida state court. When that didn’t work, they tried federal court but were denied because there was neither a federal issue (based on a federal law, a treaty or the U.S. Constitution) nor diversity (parties from different states). Congress is giving the parents one extra chance, in violation of the rule of law and the balance of power between the legislature and the judiciary branch.
Also, Congress ought to promote personal responsibility. Long before anything unfortunate happens, future Terri Schiavos should be encouraged to write “living wills” to make clear their wishes of whether they want artificial measures to keep them alive. Had Schiavo written a living will, we would not have this controversy.
Congress ought to get back to its real work of enacting legislation. They should stop grandstanding for political votes and support and start work on solving the many problems that face this nation.