Two Republican senators sat before their colleagues on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Tuesday, urging them and the rest of the caucus to join Democrats in approving a treaty codifying U.S. commitment to supporting the rights of the disabled around the world.

Sens. Kelly Ayotte (R-NH) and Mark Kirk (R-IL) were both on the witness list for the first hearing this Congress on the Convention on the Rights of People with Disabilities (CRPD), which has been languishing in the Senate since 2009 when President Barack Obama signed it.

Seated before the panel, Ayotte read out a statement from former Senate Majority Leader Bob Dole (R-KS) who last year lobbied hard to have the treaty finally be ratified. “While I cannot stand before you in person today, I approach you in the strong hope that on your second examination of this important treaty, you will again do the right thing and advance the rights of disabled individuals from the united states and throughout the world,” Ayotte read out.

For more on this story, visit: GOP Senators Urge Colleagues To Adopt Disabilities Treaty