[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 44, Number 20 (Monday, May 26, 2008)]
[Page 736]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Remarks on Signing the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act of 2008

May 21, 2008

    I want to thank the Members of Congress who've joined us as I sign 
the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act. It's a piece of 
legislation which prohibits health insurers and employers from 
discriminating on the basis of genetic information. In other words, it 
protects our citizens from having genetic information misused. And this 
bill does so without undermining the basic premise of the insurance 
industry.
    I also want to pay homage today to--and not only to Members of the 
Congress who are behind me but also to Senator Ted Kennedy, who has 
worked for over a decade to get this piece of legislation to a 
President's desk. All of us are so pleased that Senator Kennedy has gone 
home, and our thoughts and prayers are with him and his family.
    Now it's my honor to sign the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination 
Act.

[At this point, the President signed the bill.]

    Thank you.

Note: The President spoke at 2:05 p.m. in the Oval Office at the White 
House. H.R. 493, approved May 21, was assigned Public Law No. 110-233.