Sen. Orrin Hatch On CRPD

Senator Orrin Hatch, a Republican from Utah, spoke against the CRPD on the Senate floor today.  Here are some excerpts of his remarks:

"When Alexander Hamilton explained the American system of representative self-government, he famously said that in America 'the people govern; here, they act by their immediate representatives.'  Those words today are inscribed above an entrance to the House of Representatives in the Capitol, a building that Thomas Jefferson described as 'dedicated to the sovereignty of the people'...

The CRPD would undermine that sovereignty, compromise self-government, and give the last word to the United Nations.

"Ratifying the CRPD will not establish a single right for a single American, it will not provide for Americans with disabilities anything that American law has not or could not provide.   It would not even help Americans with disabilities who travel overseas because their treatment depends on the laws and policies of other countries, not ours. "

Read Senator Hatch's full speech at hatch.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/2013/7/hatch-u-n-disabilites-treaty-a-threat-to-american-sovereignty-and-self-government

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