[Congressional Record Volume 158, Number 117 (Thursday, August 2, 2012)]
[Senate]
[Page S5964]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




       THE CONVENTION ON THE RIGHTS OF PERSONS WITH DISABILITIES

  Mr. KERRY. Mr. President, I want to say a few words about the 
Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.
  I am pleased to report that the Foreign Relations Committee approved 
this Treaty on July 26, the 22nd anniversary of the Americans with 
Disabilities Act. I am also pleased that, like the ADA, the 
Disabilities Convention has strong bipartisan backing.
  This treaty is personal to so many of us. I am deeply grateful to our 
committee members for their thoughtful input on the treaty and the 
resolution of advice consent, and to Senator McCain and former Majority 
Leader Dole, who are as deeply committed to this cause as Senator 
Kennedy was to the original Americans with Disabilities Act.
  Passing this treaty isn't just the right thing to do. It is also the 
smart thing to do. It will extend essential protections to millions of 
disabled Americans, including our disabled service men and women and 
veterans, when they travel, study, work, and live abroad. In addition 
to enshrining the principles of the ADA on the international level, the 
convention will provide us with a critical tool as we advocate for the 
adoption of its standards globally standards to which all of us should 
aspire. By joining, we put ourselves in a stronger position to advance 
the goals of equality of opportunity, independent living, economic 
self-sufficiency, and full participation for individuals with 
disabilities.
  The Disabilities Convention is a reflection of our values as a 
nation. It is who we are from the Civil Rights Act to the Voting Rights 
Act to the ADA. We saw how America responded to horrifying civil rights 
images--our country met collectively to right a wrong at home and break 
the back of Jim Crow. Now is the time to step up and meet collectively 
to help make it right for the millions of Americans with disabilities 
when they are overseas and for the hundreds of millions of disabled 
individuals throughout the world.
  This is one of those moments the Senate was intended to live up to--
and it calls on all of us to provide leadership and find the common 
ground. The winners of this treaty will not be defined by party or 
ideology. The winners will be the American people.
  I look forward to working with my colleagues on both sides of the 
aisle to ensure that the Senate approves the Disabilities Convention 
during the 112th Congress.

                          ____________________