Thomas Daschle: “we now know what this is all about. Some of our Republican colleagues are going to try to convince a majority in this…”

“we now know what this is all about. Some of our Republican colleagues are going to try to convince a majority in this body that employment ought not be included when we consider discrimination based upon genetic character. I do not think employment discrimination should be treated differently from insurance discrimination. I do not think people who have experienced discrimination, as we have already seen in so many illustrations, ought to be told they have to be concerned about their job simply because of some genetic defect. That has already happened. We have already seen that happen in case after case. I described a case this morning where Terri Seargent, who had moved up the corporate ladder and was given promotion after promotion, was asked to resign when it was learned that she had the genetic marker for 'Alpha 1'. No woman, no man, no person, no employee, should be subjected to discrimination based upon genetic characteristics, and that is happening today. ADA passed a long time ago. That law did not envision the challenges science presents us today. We are simply proposing that we clarify that it should be unlawful to discriminate on the basis of genetic information. The bottom line question is, when it comes down to these two proposals, whether we should prohibit both health insurers and employers from using predictive genetic information in a discriminatory fashion?”