McCain supports expanded ADA
July 27th, 2008From the Associated Press:
Republican presidential candidate John McCain told disability advocates Saturday that he intends to support a proposal to strengthen protections for people with disabilities under the ADA.
“We must clarify the definition of a disability to assure full protection for those the law is intended to serve,” said McCain, speaking by satellite to a national disabilities forum in Columbus, Ohio, on the 18th anniversary of the signing of the ADA.
Since the passage of the landmark civil rights law, the Supreme Court has generally exempted from the law’s protection people with partial physical disabilities, as well as people with physical impairments that can be mitigated with medication or adaptive devices.
McCain said blame for the narrowed scope of the law shouldn’t be placed on the Supreme Court, but rather on Congress. “In all due respect, I would put the blame right back on us for not writing legislation that is strong enough and specific enough so that the Supreme Court wouldn’t even have to consider these cases,” McCain said.
McCain was among the sponsors of the 1990 law.
The House last month passed the ADA Amendments Act. McCain said he intends to support a similar bill in the Senate.
Barack Obama was returning from a European trip and so did not participate in the forum, but has said he supports the bill.
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July 28th, 2008 at 8:19 am
McCain’s record of voting against issues important to people with disabilities speaks for itself. This recent complete reversal on his views is nothing more than typical McCain political pandering.