The U.S. Senate voted 61-38 in favor the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, falling five votes short of the required two-thirds majority.

Eight Republicans voted with Democrats for the measure. No Democrat voted against it. The majority of Republicans voted against it because, as Sen. Pat Toomey stated, “While I believe we must be sensitive to the rights of the disabled, we have many American laws to protect Americans with disabilities. This treaty would threaten U.S. autonomy and give the United Nations undue influence over American policy.”

Elected officials who voted against it are not supportive of hateful policies, as some extremists have argued.

The United States should not support burdensome regulations with the requirement of reporting every four years to an international organization in Geneva with anti-American biases telling parents what is in the best interests of children in Pennsylvania or any other state.

The Home School Legal Defense Fund Association argued that the treaty would threaten parental rights.

The final vote does not allow U.N. bureaucrats to decide what is in the best interests of children with disabilities but leaves those decisions with parents and caregivers.

The U.S. already holds the moral ground in protecting the rights of the disabled under existing law with enforcement by a wide range of state and federal agencies that the rest of the world should follow as example.

Signing the CRPD treaty to simply score points overseas is not a sound basis for American policy.

James Steamer

State College