Thomas Daschle: “let me just respond to a few of the arguments posed by the Senator from Tennessee. First of all, with regard to the…”

“let me just respond to a few of the arguments posed by the Senator from Tennessee. First of all, with regard to the technicalities to which he made reference, I do not know what technicalities and what information could be murky about what it is we are trying to do. We simply say there should not be any employment discrimination based on genetic information. That is it. He talked about these discrimination actions being subjected to a mysterious penalty. All we have said in section 4 of the bill is that if you think you were discriminated against, you can go to court and have a court make some decision with regard to whether there is discrimination or not. That is the penalty. We do not prescribe any penalties. We prescribe some degree of accountability. We simply say, if you think you were discriminated against, you get to sue, period. That is all. On another point, let me say that the legislation proposed by our Republican colleagues has already been analyzed in some detail as part of their Patients' Bill of Rights, as the Senator from Vermont has said. On April 12, Senator Harkin received a letter from 59 health organizations that wrote with concern about the language propounded in this amendment by the Senator from Vermont. Fifty-nine health organizations have already said: This is not the way we ought to do it. They don't need more hearings. They don't need more information. They have looked at the bill.…”