By Emily Cadei, CQ Staff

Opposition to one United Nations- brokered treaty is hardening, while advocates for another are optimistic about its chances for Senate ratification before the August recess.

Minority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky is among the latest Republican senators who have added their names to a letter to Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., opposing the U.N. Convention on the Law of the Sea (Treaty Doc 103-39), a pact written in the 1980s to establish guidelines for nations’ use of the world’s oceans.

The addition of McConnell and Charles E. Grassley, R-Iowa, pushes to 30 the total number of senators who have signed the letter, which is headed by Jim DeMint, R-S.C. Two-thirds of the Senate must approve ratification of treaties before the United States can officially join a given pact.

The growing opposition leaves backers very little breathing room — they can stand to lose just three additional votes and still secure ratification — despite the active support of the national security establishment and the oil, gas and telecommunications industries, as well as GOP former officials.

The Senate Foreign Relations Committee has held three hearings on the Law of the Sea treaty since May. Chairman John Kerry, D-Mass., has announced he will try to secure a vote in the lame-duck session of Congress after the election, in an attempt to keep election politics out of the process.

Rights of Persons With Disabilities Pact

The committee is also kicking off consideration of the U.N. Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (Treaty Doc 112-7), a pact to establish worldwide standards for the treatment of the disabled, where the United States has been a pioneer. The United States signed the treaty in 2009.

The first hearing is being held Thursday morning, with boosters eyeing ratification as early as July 26, the 22nd anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act (PL 101-336).

Jennifer Dexter, the assistant vice president for government relations at disability advocacy group Easter Seals, acknowledged that is “a pretty aggressive timeline” but said that “so far we’re on track with that.”

“Sen. Kerry didn’t want to move ahead until he knew this had a shot,” Dexter added, so the fact that the committee is now holding a hearing “gives me hope.” Committee staff declined to comment on potential timing of a ratification vote.

The disability rights treaty is likely to avoid some of the controversy other treaties have faced in recent years, thanks to the fact that it will not affect U.S. laws, which advocates say are the gold standard for international disability regulations. Rather, the treaty would largely force the rest of the world to catch up to U.S. standards.

The treaty does face some opposition — DeMint and Republican James M. Inhofe of Oklahoma are against ratification, as is the Heritage Foundation, which will testify against the pact Thursday. But it has a robust bipartisan coalition behind it, including Republicans John McCain of Arizona, Jerry Moran of Kansas and John Barrasso of Wyoming, as well as Democrats Richard J. Durbin of Illinois, Tom Harkin of Iowa, Chris Coons of Delaware and Tom Udall of New Mexico. McCain and Durbin are holding a news conference Thursday in support of the treaty.

The same support is not there on Law of the Sea. Both Barrasso and Moran have signed onto the DeMint letter urging the Senate not to ratify the treaty, which opponents say would undermine U.S. sovereignty and subject U.S. companies to unnecessary regulation and fees. Just two moderate Republicans — Richard G. Lugar of Indiana, the ranking Republican on the Foreign Relations panel, and Lisa Murkowski, whose home state of Alaska would benefit from the Arctic access facilitated by the treaty — have come out publicly in support.