Political Quotes

“this legislation and the unanimous consent that was just obtained signifies an important accomplishment of this body but an accomplishment that resulted after about 6 years of work. As with so much important legislation, I think we sometimes take for granted how much work it takes to get to a certain point. Then when we present the bill, debate the bill, and then pass the bill, we move very quickly on to other issues. What the unanimous consent just said was that we will be voting on this Tuesday when we get back from recess; that all time for debate and discussion on this particular issue, which I should add over the last 6 years has been debated a lot on this floor, will have been exhausted. For more than 6 years, Members of this body have worked on this issue. I have worked with Senator Olympia Snowe for about 5 rac{3}{4} ext{ years, along with Senators Jeffords, Enzi, Gregg, Hagel, Collins, and DeWine on this issue of genetic nondiscrimination. Today, with the invaluable contributions of Senators Daschle and Kennedy, we bring to the Senate floor this solid, important, significant legislation that, if I had to summarize, I would say provides individuals, citizens, patients, with strong protections against the potential of genetic discrimination in health insurance. I especially want to take this opportunity to commend the chairman of the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, Chairman Judd Gregg, for his leadership on this issue.”