WASHINGTON (AP) — The Obama administration is pushing for ratification of a U.N. accord on the rights of the disabled less than a year after Senate Republicans rejected pleas for its passage from two former GOP presidential nominees and delivered a stinging rebuke to a global treaty modeled largely on American law.
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.
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