Statement on proposed legislation to provide protections against genetic discrimination

Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents, March 11, 2002

March 6, 2002

I applaud Senators Snowe, Frist, and Jeffords for introducing their bill today to prohibit discrimination in health insurance and employment based solely on an individual's genetic predisposition to a future disease. The bill provides strong protections against genetic discrimination that are fair, reasonable, and consistent with existing laws. I look forward to working with Congress in a bipartisan manner to pass legislation to assure Americans the privacy of their genetic information will be protected and never used to deny health coverage or jobs.

NOTE: The statement referred to S. 1995, the "Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act of 2002."