INHOFE PRAISES SENATE REJECTION OF CRPD
December 4, 2012
WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Sen. Jim Inhofe (R-Okla.), a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, today praised the Senate rejection of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) by a 61-38 vote. Because two-thirds of the Senate is required for treaties, 66 votes were required for ratification.
“America leads the world in how those with disabilities are treated,” said Inhofe. “Because of the 1990 Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), we don’t need UN bureaucrats dictating our nation’s laws in the name of worldwide application. The treaty threatens U.S. sovereignty through the establishment of the unelected UN bureaucratic bodies called the Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and a Conference of States Parties that would implement the Treaty and pass so-called “recommendations” that would be forced upon the U.S. as a signatory.
“While the Obama Administration affirms that no changes to federal or state law will be necessary if CRPD is ratified, the CRPD can be amended by these bureaucrats and therefore require changes to U.S. law. The ability of the Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities to investigate and recommend changes also chips away at the ability of a sovereign nation to govern itself.
“I have heard from thousands of my constituents, especially parents who home school their children, who are concerned that the treaty will be used to interfere with the ability of parents with disabled children to decide what action is in the best interest of their children. Unelected, foreign bureaucrats, not parents, would decide what is in the best interests of the disabled child, even in the home. These are just some of the reasons why the Senate was right to reject yet another power-grab effort by the UN.”
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