Efforts to prevent the removal also pressed on in court. But appeals to a Pinellas circuit court, the Florida Supreme Court and the U.S. Supreme Court were rejected.

The epic dispute has spread from Schiavo's Pinellas Park hospice to political and legal arenas in Tallahassee and Washington. It could come to a close beginning today, when husband Michael Schiavo has court permission to remove her feeding tube.

In 1990, Terri Schiavo, now 41, suffered severe brain damage when her heart briefly stopped beating. She has been in what many doctors call a persistent vegetative state since then.

For the past seven years, her husband and parents have fought in court about whether her feeding tube should be removed. Michael Schiavo has maintained that his wife told him she would not want to be kept alive by artificial means; her parents, Bob and Mary Schindler, don't believe that and say she can improve.

Though the Schindlers appeared to have run out of options, lawmakers were huddled late into the night in Washington. And the most powerful politicians in Florida - Gov. Jeb Bush, House Speaker Allan Bense, and Senate President Tom Lee - are staunch supporters of keeping Terri Schiavo alive.

On Thursday, state lawmakers were expected to negotiate conflicting House and Senate bills and send a compromise to Bush.

The House handily passed its version, 78-37. It would prohibit the removal of a feeding tube from someone in a persistent vegetative state if the person gave no written directive or there is no clear and convincing evidence that he or she specified that food and water be withheld.

Then, in a stunning Senate vote, nine Republicans joined Democrats in rejecting the Schiavo legislation outright. The sponsor of Senate Bill 804, state Sen. Daniel Webster, R- Winter Garden, strongly suggested he would drop the issue.

``I can count,'' Webster said after the 21-16 vote, with two Republicans and one Democrat absent. ``If it doesn't pass today with 16, it doesn't pass tomorrow with 18.''

Both the House and Senate are in session today. ``I guess if I healed all the way up and I was looking to get run over again,'' he would reintroduce the bill, Webster said.

Outside the Senate chamber, a stern-faced state Rep. Dennis Baxley, R-Ocala, held out hope. ``I've seen miracles on this scene,'' said Baxley, who sponsored House Bill 701.

State Sen. Jim Sebesta, R-St. Petersburg, pronounced the issue ``pretty much dead.''

``In all likelihood, unless something dramatic happens within the next 24 hours, the Schiavo legislative effort this session is over,'' said Sebesta, who supported the Senate bill.

Meanwhile, in Washington, Republican leaders in Congress were unable to engineer passage of a measure identical to a House version that President Bush said he was awaiting and willing to sign.

First, Democrats in the Senate blocked a bill identical to a measure passed by the House late Wednesday that would have allowed another layer of review in the case of Schiavo and other ``incapacitated persons'' by federal courts.

When Republicans sought unanimous consent for the measure, Oregon Democratic Sen. Ron Wyden, a right-to-die advocate, stood in opposition - enough of a maneuver under Senate rules to stymie Republicans' attempt at passage.

Wyden said he blocked the Republican attempt because the legislation ``would potentially wreak havoc on the constitutional right of states to regulate medicine and medical practice within their borders.'' He complained that there had been no hearings to study the effects of the legislation and that regardless of the emotions involved, Congress should study an issue before deciding it.

Later in the day, Republicans succeeded on a measure that applied only to Schiavo. But the so-called ``private relief'' bill foundered because for a bill to become law, both the Senate and House must agree.

The House had already wrapped up business for the month, so the two chambers could not reconcile their different versions.

Late Thursday, legislative leaders were exploring whether they could take the extraordinary step of reconvening the House to vote on Schiavo's case. ``I'm not willing to give up,'' said Sen. Mel Martinez, R-Orlando.

``Conversations are still taking place. This is far from done. I believe the House will act.''

Many congressmen have already left Washington to return to their districts. Whether they could return today or next week is unclear, raising the prospect that once again doctors may have to remove Schiavo's feeding tube only to put it back.

On the legal front, Schindler attorney David Gibbs said he and his clients were disappointed but not yet out of options.

The Schindlers will now petition the U.S. District Court in Tampa for a review of the state court rulings to ensure Terri Schiavo's federal due process rights have not been violated, Gibbs said.

The request will be almost identical to what death row inmates file after exhausting all state court appeals, he said.

``We believe we have a civil court death penalty here,'' Gibbs said.

Meanwhile, Gov. Bush issued statements praising the Florida House and the efforts in the U.S. Congress to save Schiavo. The Florida Senate bill ``is certainly not dead, but it does appear that they're having some difficulty,'' Bush told The Associated Press. ``I'm just disappointed, but that's their decision.''

Respecting Existing Law

Florida state Sen. Jim King, R-Jacksonville, said the issue is ``a very personal type of thing. It transcends Republican and Democrat.''

The Florida Republican senators who voted against the Schiavo bill said they respected existing state law, established in a ``Death With Dignity'' package of bills marshaled by King when he was a House member in the 1990s. This legislation forced Florida to recognize living wills and oral end-of-life directives.

``I can't imagine what amendment would be offered that the nine of us would support,'' said King. ``I can't speak for the Democrats, but as far as we're concerned, we don't want anything to change as far as existing law.''

Still, King was reluctant to declare the issue over. ``I'd never say that. The power of the president [of the Senate] is awesome,'' said King, who recently yielded that post to Lee, a Republican from Brandon.

Reporter Jerome Stockfisch can be reached at 850-222-8382 . Reporters Allison North Jones and Garrett Therolf in Tallahassee, Keith Epstein in Washington, and David Sommer in Clearwater contributed to this report.