The US Senate on Tuesday failed to ratify the UN convention protecting the rights of the disabled, a symbolic treaty that creates no change in US law but encountered Republican resistance.
The Senate voted 61-38 in favor of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, but fell short of the two-thirds majority needed for ratification.
President Barack Obama’s signature would have made the United States the 127th country to ratify the convention, which was first adopted December 13, 2006 by the UN General Assembly.
The treaty was largely symbolic for the United States in that it codifies in international law many of the rights already afforded under the Americans for Disabilities Act (ADA), a US law passed in 1990.
In recent months, Republican lawmakers have spoken out against the treaty, suggesting it would infringe on US sovereignty or allow the state to dictate the actions of families with children with disabilities.
The presence in the chamber of former senator Bob Dole, the disabled World War II veteran and 1996 Republican presidential nominee who helped negotiate the landmark ADA, was not enough to overcome Republican opposition to the treaty.
US Senate fails to ratify UN treaty on disabilities
