US lawmakers reached agreement Saturday on a bipartisan bill aiming at saving the life of a brain-damaged Florida woman, one day after doctors removed the feeding tube that has kept her alive for 15 years.

"We are confident that this compromise addresses everyone's concerns," House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, a Republican from Texas, said at a news conference. "We are confident it will provide Mrs. Schiavo a clear and appropriate avenue for appeal in federal court.

"And most importantly we are confident this compromise will restore nutrition and hydration to Mrs. Schiavo as long as that appeal endures."

The limited legislation would allow the case to be moved from state court to federal court, which has repeatedly refused to intervene. But it included no specific language ordering that the feeding tube keeping Schiavo alive be reconnected.

The Congress acted one day after the presiding judge over the case rejected its previous effort to intervene by subpoenaing Schiavo to appear before Congress hearings and committees later this month, effectively delaying the removal of the feeding tube.

Pinellas Circuit Judge George Greer determined Friday during a telephone hearing that his order to remove the feeding tube for Terri Schiavo should be carried out. She was expected to die in one or two weeks after the removal of the tube.

Schiavo's husband and legal guardian, Michael Schiavo, has engaged in a seven-year court battle with her parents. Michael has urged the removal of the feeding tube, saying his wife would rather die in her condition, and her parents insisted that Schiavo be kept alive.

Some doctors have testified that Terri Schiavo, 41, is in a persistent vegetative state, after a sudden heart attack, with no hope for recovery, but Schiavo's parents would not give up any sign of hope.

In one of the fiercest life-and-death battles in the United States, Schiavo's feeding tube was removed twice and then resumed.

Schiavo's anguished mother, Mary Schindler, pleaded Saturday with officials and lawmakers to save her daughter's life. But Michael Schiavo assailed lawmakers for its attempt to save his wife, saying they should leave her and him alone.