WKSU News: Portman may change his vote on disabilities treaty -- next year

Thursday, December 6, 2012 Portman may change his vote on disabilities treaty -- next year Ohio senator says his main issue was timing, not content by WKSU's M.L. SCHULTZE	Web Editor M.L. Schultze

Ohio's U.S. Sen. Rob Portman says the vote against the disabilities treaty was largely timing, not content.

Ohio’s Republican Sen. Rob Portman says his vote to reject a United Nations treaty on the rights of disabled people was based more on timing than on the content of the treaty itself.

Some of the 38 Republicans who voted against the treaty said it gave the U.N. too much power or raised the specter that it could impact home schooling. Proponents called that baseless.

In a conference call yesterday (Thursday), Portman said he signed a letter in October that pushed for any treaty votes to be delayed until the new Congress that takes office in January. He says he may reconsider the bill itself.

PORTMAN says he'll reconsider next year

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“I would want to see some slight changes and then I would consider it. … as would a number of my other Republican colleagues who signed the letter as I did based on the fact that we believe that the Congress that duly elected ought to be making these decisions and not slipping it into a lame-duck session.”

The treaty needed a two-thirds majority to be ratified. It got 61 votes after former Senate Republican Majority Leader Bob Dole made a special plea for it.