Genomic securitySen. Rubio Urges Senate to Pass Genomics Data Security Act
Senator Marco Rubio urged the Senate to pass his Genomics Data Security Act following a new Office of Inspector General’s (OIG) report, which found that the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) did not consider national security risks for any CMS programs. Rubio noted that Chinese and Russian labs may be receiving federal dollars to processing Americans’ genomic data.
U.S. Senator Marco Rubio (R-Florida) urged the Senate to pass his Genomics Data Security Act following a new Office of Inspector General’s (OIG) report. The OIG report, requested by Rubio and Senator Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) in June 2019, found that the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) did not consider national security risks for any CMS programs. Rubio noted that this is particularly concerning with regard to tests that CMS oversees and are known threats to Americans’ genomic data from testing companies affiliated with the Chinese government, like BGI.
Additionally, the report determined that CMS needs to account for these national security considerations.
The OIG report called for CMS to consider national security risks, but it did not outline a path by which to do so. Rubio’s Genomics Data Security Act, which he introduced in May 2021, would address this issue by requiring CMS to list if the company conducting the Clinical Laboratory Improvement Amendments (CLIA) test has ties to the People’s Republic of China. This requirement would force CMS to develop a process to obtain information on national security threats related to a company’s organizational structure.
Rubio has warned before about the growing threat posed by the Chinese Communist Party’s efforts to collect American’s genomic data. In December 2019, Rubio secured a provision in the end-of-year appropriations bills requiring CMS to disclose the Russian and Chinese labs which may be receiving federal payments to process Americans’ genomic data.
Rubio said that the OIG report further emphasizes the need for Congress to confront this national security and privacy threat.
“It is ridiculous that our current policies enable the Chinese Communist Party to access Americans’ genomic data,” Rubio said. “There is absolutely no reason that Beijing, which routinely seeks to undermine U.S. national security, should be handed the genomic data of American citizens. We must take action to address these vulnerabilities, and that starts by passing my Genomics Data Security Act.”
