Tom Harkin: “first I thank Senator Kerry, Senator Lugar, and Senator McCain for their great leadership and their dogged persistence…”

“first I thank Senator Kerry, Senator Lugar, and Senator McCain for their great leadership and their dogged persistence in making sure we can get this treaty through the committee and to the floor. It has been inspirational to watch them work together in a bipartisan fashion to bring us to this point. I hope we don't lose that in terms of the vote. I just came over from the Dirksen building where we had a wonderful ceremony honoring former Senator Bob Dole. Some time ago I went back and I read Senator Dole's maiden speech on the Senate floor, dated April 14, 1969. Mr. President, I commend these remarks to my colleagues. Senator Dole spoke of the future of people with disabilities in America and what we need to do to change our society. That was in 1969. It was 21 years later when we passed the Americans with Disabilities Act. The country has changed so much for the better because of that. We are sitting here now with a convention by the U.N. which basically says to the rest of the world: You have to do what America did. In establishing this convention, the U.N. was informed by the Americans with Disabilities Act, and a lot of it is based upon what we did here. As the committee showed, not one of our laws or anything has to be changed. Not one. We are the best in the world at this. Yet what this convention gives us is a seat at the table.…”