Tuesday, July 24, 2012

CRPD Back on the Schedule: Keep It Up! Final 2 Weeks of Pressing Need

We have entered the last two weeks before Congress starts its Summer Work Period, and the need for your calls remains great!

First, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee has re-scheduled its mark-up (including the committee’s vote) on the United Nations’ Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) for this Thursday, July 26. While we defeated Senator Kerry’s goal of seeing the whole Senate pass the CRPD by Thursday, our goal of stopping this treaty completely to protect the parental rights of those with disabled children is still to be attained.

Your calls have been working; several senators now consider this treaty a threat to parental rights and national sovereignty who did not see it that way before. But more senators need to be convinced. So please call – or call again – and urge your senators to stand for American sovereignty and parental rights by refusing to consent to this treaty. Tell them we do not need to take an area of domestic law in which our nation has done so well, and hand it off to an international body with a terrible track record, no experience in protecting the disabled, and no accountability to the American people.

Click on your state at ParentalRights.org/States to find your senators’ contact information.

Parental Rights Amendment Summer Push

Second, the Parental Rights Amendment enjoyed a great hearing in the Constitution Subcommittee of the House Judiciary Committee last Thursday, but time is short to take advantage of this opportunity in two ways:

1. Several of our former cosponsors and pledge signers have been confused because HJRes110 is the third draft of the Parental Rights Amendment (PRA) introduced this Congress. That means some who would support it have not yet come to realize that HJRes110 is the real deal. But this subcommittee hearing should serve convincingly to dispel any remaining doubts. They just need to hear about it!

2. As mentioned above, the Summer Work Period is about to start. That’s when members of the House and Senate return to their district and state for the month of August, where they can be closer and more accessible to you. Committees won’t be meeting and votes won’t be taken – a blessing regarding CRPD if we can hold it off long enough. Instead, you have an opportunity to meet with them and talk about what matters most to you – including parental rights.

So, please take a moment to call your Congressman - twice. First, call their Washington, D.C., office and tell them that HJRes110, the Parental Rights Amendment, had a great hearing in the Constitution Subcommittee last week. Urge them to sign on as a cosponsor before the August Work Period. Then, call their local office nearest you and ask to set up an appointment in August when you can go and talk to them about your parental rights. Ask for 10-15 minutes, and enlist a few friends to go with you!

Your congressman’s contact information is available at ParentalRights.org/States – just click on your state. (If their local office number is not listed, you can click on their Website link and find it there, usually under “Contact Us.”)

I know we’ve been asking you for weeks to keep calling, but don’t give up now. For better or worse a break is coming in August – but until then, there are two great victories within our reach. Together, we can win this war against our families.

Sincerely,

Michael Ramey
Direct of Communications & Research

Parental Rights Amend. House Cosponsors
77

Includes HJRes110 lead sponsor, Rep. Trent Franks.
Latest addition July 24, 2012.

Parental Rights Amendment Senate Cosponsors
13

Includes SJRes42 lead sponsor, Sen. Jim DeMint.
Latest addition July 23, 2012.

Senators Opposing CRC Ratification
38

Includes SR99 lead sponsor, Sen. Jim DeMint.
Latest addition Feb. 6, 2012.

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