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 It's unclear whether the administration has won over Republican
skeptics, but top aides to President Barack Obama are lobbying hard
for another vote. Secretary of State John Kerry will testify later
this week before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and U.N.
Ambassador Samantha Power has made several trips to the Capitol for
meetings with senior lawmakers. Officials have sought to mobilize
veterans and disabled groups, religious organizations and the
business community in support of the treaty.
"We want to lead the struggle to make these rights universal," Power
told The Associated Press in a telephone interview. "It would be a
very good thing internationally if disability rights were promoted
and respected to the extent they are in this country."
The treaty aims to ensure the disabled enjoy equal rights as their
fellow citizens, extending many provisions introduced by the
landmark Americans With Disabilities Act that was passed by Congress
and then signed into law by President George H.W. Bush more than two
decades ago. Advocates say U.S. ratification would benefit American
veterans, families, students and others wishing to live, travel,
work or study overseas by offering the United States a platform to
help other governments extend more services for disabled people.
And they argue that little would be demanded of the United States,
which has set standards for everything from ensuring wheelchair
access and handicapped-accessible toilets in public buildings to
rules forbidding workplace discrimination against people with
disabilities.
"Ratification of this treaty is not going to affect American law,"
Power declared.
But opposition runs deep among Republicans, and securing the
two-thirds majority needed for Senate passage is no sure thing. In
December the U.N. Convention on the Rights of Persons With
Disabilities fell five votes short as only 61 senators voted in
favor and 38 senators — all Republicans — voted against.
Even the presence of a frail, wheelchair-using Bob Dole, the former
Senate majority leader and the Republicans' 1996 presidential
candidate, failed to sway party colleagues. Dole, who was wounded
during World War II, was joined by Sen. John McCain, the GOP's 2008
presidential candidate who had disabling injuries in Vietnam, and
then-Sen. Dick Lugar, until this year the top Republican on the
Foreign Relations Committee, in making the conservative case for
adoption of the treaty.
Their effort was knocked down by an equally passionate campaign
spearheaded by tea party favorite Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah. He warned
the agreement could lead to the state, rather than parents,
determining the best interests of disabled children on issues such
as home schooling. Opponents also claimed the treaty could lead to
more abortions by guaranteeing the disabled equal access to
reproductive health care. Lee's office declined to comment on the
administration's new effort, beyond saying the senator remained
opposed for the same reasons.
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The conservative Heritage Foundation also is against ratification.
It says the pact would subject America to a biased U.N. review every
four years and do nothing to advance American interests
internationally.
"We won't help other countries by joining a treaty," said Steven
Groves, a senior fellow at the Washington think tank. "We help other
countries by setting an example and providing assistance."
Some key moderate Republicans are on the fence. "We want to advance
the rights of people who are disabled throughout the world. I want
to. I think that's a good thing," Sen. Bob Corker of Tennessee, the
top Republican on the Foreign Relations Committee, said earlier this
month. He warned, however, that the treaty could expand federal
power and interfere in U.S. legal proceedings unless the Senate
stipulates its reservations as part of any ratification.
Sen. Bob Menendez, D-N.J., the committee chairman, will put the
treaty before his panel as early as next month. A full Senate vote
is then likely to follow.
Senate Democrats and administration officials hope prospects for
passage are better now, a year removed from Obama's re-election and
a lame-duck session of Congress that many Republicans considered an
inappropriate time for consideration of any treaty. Last year, 36
GOP senators came out against the treaty based on the timing of the
vote alone.
Administration officials say they're lobbying significantly harder
this time around than last, and they believe they can pick off the
handful of additional Republicans needed to secure the treaty's
ratification. In a flurry of private meetings and public outreach
efforts, they've sought to aggressively push back against what they
call misconceptions about a treaty that 138 other governments have
ratified.
On the home-schooling question, officials are promising the treaty
won't prevent any parent from it. They say ratification of the pact
would actually make it easier for the U.S. to persuade countries
hostile to the practice to loosen their laws on allowing disabled
children to be taught at home.
"These are parental rights, which we consider sacred," Power said.
On reproductive health care, officials say the language only demands
equality under the law for disabled people, compelling no nation to
make abortion legal or illegal for all its citizens.
The U.N. treaty was negotiated during President George W. Bush's
administration. Obama signed the final product in 2009.
[Associated
Press; BRADLEY KLAPPER]
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