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 Although 146 nations and the European Union have ratified the United
Nations convention, it has failed to win approval in the deeply
divided U.S. Senate, where many conservatives are wary of subjecting
American social policies to global laws.
The Senate Foreign Relations Committee voted 12-6 in favor of the
U.N. Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. Only two
Republicans, John McCain of Arizona and John Barrasso of Wyoming,
joined the panel's 10 Democrats in favor.
The treaty is supported by leading U.S. military veterans
organizations, advocates for the rights of people with disabilities
and business groups.
Opponents, including many socially conservative Republicans, worry
it could expand abortion rights, threaten U.S. parental rights such
as the ability to home-school children, and shift power to the
federal government from U.S. states.
The treaty's backers dismissed those concerns and accused opponents
of injecting divisive social issues into the debate to score
political points.
"It is so wrong to the disabled people to catch them up in this
debate," California Democratic Senator Barbara Boxer said during
heated discussions in the committee meeting.
Backers said the agreement would face stiff resistance winning the
67 votes it would need to be ratified by the full 100-member Senate,
where Republicans hold 45 seats.
The treaty was defeated by just five votes in the Senate in 2012.
McCain, a war veteran and strong advocate for the treaty, said: "We
won't quit on this issue because we believe it is a fundamental
issue of human rights."
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To press the issue, McCain and other treaty backers scheduled a news
conference on Wednesday with representatives of veterans
organizations, including the American Legion and Vietnam Veterans of
America, and former Kansas Senator Bob Dole, a wounded war veteran
who has championed the international accord.
Dole, now 91, was badly injured while fighting in World War Two, but
went on to a long career in public office that included stints as
Senate Majority leader and the 1996 Republican presidential
nomination.
He watched from a wheelchair in the Senate in 2012 as members voted
against ratification.
(Reporting by Patricia Zengerle; Editing by David Storey, Bernard
Orr and Andre Grenon)
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