Tom Harkin: “I have come to the floor today--and we have a couple hours now--to introduce a Senate resolution which is now at the…”

“I have come to the floor today--and we have a couple hours now--to introduce a Senate resolution which is now at the desk recognizing and celebrating the 20th anniversary of the Americans With Disabilities Act. Twenty years ago, the ADA was a great bipartisan legislative initiative. I am pleased this resolution also enjoys broad bipartisan support. I am grateful to all those who have cosponsored this resolution, including my chief cosponsor, Senator Hatch, and 31 other Senators. Other Senators who are watching and would like to be added as cosponsors, I ask them to please call their respective cloakrooms and we will add their names to the list. Right now, I think we are at 22 or 23. The Americans With Disabilities Act--signed into law on January 26, 1990--has been described as the Emancipation Proclamation for people with disabilities. The ADA set four goals for people with disabilities: Equal opportunity, full participation, independent living, and economic self-sufficiency. But as the chief Senate sponsor of the ADA, I can tell my colleagues that at its heart, the ADA is very simple. In the words of one disability rights advocate, this landmark law is about securing for people with disabilities the most fundamental of rights: ``The right to live in the world.'' It is about ensuring that people with disabilities can go places and do things that other Americans take for granted.…”