While Terri Schiavo lay dying in her hospice bed early today, the U.S. Congress and President Bush boosted the hopes of the brain-damaged woman's parents that her feeding tube would be reinserted.

First the Senate and then the House passed a bill to let the woman's parents ask a federal judge to prolong Schiavo's life. President Bush signed the measure less than an hour later.

The measure permits a federal review of the case, which could trigger the reinsertion of the feeding tube needed to keep the Florida woman alive.

The House passed the bill on a 203-58 vote after calling lawmakers back for an emergency Sunday session for debate that stretched past midnight. The Senate approved the bill yesterday by voice vote.

The legislation requires a federal judge to launch a new inquiry into the case of Schiavo, 41, who suffered severe loss of oxygen to her brain when her heart temporarily stopped 15 years ago. Doctors appointed by Florida courts have said Schiavo has since lived in a persistent "vegetative" state, although other physicians have questioned that diagnosis.

LAWRENCE JACKSON / AP House Democrats register their opposition to the Schiavo bill yesterday in Washington, D.C. From left were Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, D-Fla.; Jim Davis, D-Fla.; Jim Moran, D-Va.; and Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass.

In a statement after signing the bill early today, Bush said: "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."

Schiavo's husband and legal guardian, Michael Schiavo, said he was outraged that congressional leaders were intervening in the contentious right-to-die battle.

He has said Terri Schiavo has no chance of recovery and that, based on their conversations before her heart attack, she would not want to continue living as she is now. Florida courts have repeatedly sided with him, and the U.S. Supreme Court has declined to hear appeals of those rulings.

Terri Schiavo's parents and siblings have fought to keep her alive, drawing many right-to-life activists and other political groups to their side.

"We are very, very, very thankful to cross this bridge, and we are very hopeful that the federal courts will follow the will of Congress and save my sister's life," Suzanne Vitadamo, Terri Schiavo's sister, said early today.

Republican supporters said the "Palm Sunday Compromise" seeks to protect the constitutional rights of a disabled person and rejected suggestions that political motives lay behind the last-minute maneuver.

"When a person's intentions regarding whether to receive lifesaving treatment are unclear, the responsibility of a compassionate nation is to affirm that person's right to life," said House Judiciary Committee Chairman James Sensenbrenner, R-Wis. "In our deeds and public actions, we must build a culture of life that welcomes and defends all human life."

Many Democrats who opposed the bill said the congressional vote placed lawmakers in the middle of issues best left to state courts and family members.

"Today, congressional leaders are trying to appoint Congress as a judge and jury," said Rep. Jim Davis, D-Fla. "If we do not draw the line in the sand today, there is no limit to what democratic principles this Congress will ignore or what liberties they may trample on next."

House Speaker Dennis Hastert, R-Ill. and others rejected the description of the brain-damaged woman as persisting in a "vegetative" state.

"She laughs, she cries and she smiles with those around her. She is aware of her surroundings and is responsive to them," he said. "This is a woman who deserves a chance at life and not a death sentence of starvation and dehydration."

Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass., rejected the notion that elected lawmakers could accurately diagnose her condition.

"The caption tonight ought to be: We're not doctors, we just play them on C-SPAN," he said.

House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, R-Texas, said the federal District Court in Florida had already been informed that a petition would be filed as soon as the president signed the measure, with the presumption a judge will order that the feeding tube be replaced.

The legislation paved an avenue for federal jurisdiction in the legal case, but there was no way to determine in advance how or when a judge would rule.

Lawmakers who left Washington on Friday for the two-week Easter recess had to make abrupt changes in plans, backtracking for the dramatic, politically contentious votes. In a special session yesterday afternoon, House Democrats refused to allow the bill to be passed without a roll-call vote.

The legislation would give Schiavo's parents the right to file suit in federal court over the withdrawal of food and medical treatment needed to sustain the life of their daughter. It says the court, after determining the merits of the suit, "shall issue such declaratory and injunctive relief as may be necessary to protect the rights" of the woman. Injunctive relief in this case could mean the reinserting of a feeding tube.

"It gives Terri Schiavo another chance," Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn., said after the late-afternoon voice vote in a near-empty Senate chamber. "It guarantees a process to help Terri, but does not guarantee a particular outcome."

Frist also noted that the bill, responding to some Democratic objections, does not affect state assisted-suicide laws or serve as a precedent for future legislation.

The Democratic whip, Rep. Steny Hoyer, D-Md., said his office was telling members to vote their conscience on the issue, and there was considerable Democratic support for the bill.

Senate aides acknowledged the legislation will put a federal court in direct conflict with Florida courts, a move subject to possible legal challenges whose duration and outcome are hard to predict.

Schiavo's feeding tube was temporarily removed twice before after various legal maneuvers. Doctors say she probably would die from dehydration in about two weeks if the tube is not reinserted.

Congress largely steered clear of the Schiavo case until last week, when appeals to Florida courts were exhausted and the state's GOP-controlled Legislature appeared unlikely to step in.

Material from The Washington Post is included in this report.