Similar steroid testing sought

WASHINGTON — The chairman of a House subcommittee said Thursday that all major U.S. sports leagues should work toward a single drug-testing plan, and the heads of a congressional committee that subpoenaed stars said baseball players should not be "above the law."

"Our elite athletic organizations, both professional and amateur, should establish uniform, world-class, drug-testing standards that are as consistent and robust as our criminal laws in this area," said Rep. Cliff Stearns, chairman of a House Energy and Commerce subcommittee. "Nothing less should be tolerated."

Labor lawyers from the commissioner's office and the NFL testified before the panel, which also heard from Donald Hooton of Plano, Texas, whose son was a steroid user and committed suicide, and Dr. Ralph Hale, chairman of the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency, which oversees drug testing for Olympic sports.

Energy and Commerce Committee chairman Rep. Joe Barton said this could be the first of a series of hearings on the issue and that at some point subpoenas might be issued for commissioners of the major sports leagues.

"The time has come to put an end to this mess and reclaim sports as competition," he said.

Barton said use of performance-enhancing drugs is tainting sports and its stars, noting that as San Francisco Giants star Barry Bonds pursues the career home run record there are questions about whether he has been aided by steroids.

"With Babe Ruth, people didn't worry about him taking steroids. They worried about him eating another hot dog," Barton said.

On Wednesday, the House Government Reform Committee issued subpoenas Wednesday calling for Mark McGwire, Sammy Sosa and five other baseball stars to testify at a March 17 hearing. The committee also demanded a variety of documents and records of baseball's drug tests.

Baseball balked at the subpoenas. Stanley Brand, a lawyer for the commissioner's office, said the committee had no jurisdiction, was trying to violate baseball's first amendment privacy rights, and was attempting to "satisfy their prurient interest into who may and may not have engaged in this activity."

Committee chairman Rep. Tom Davis and ranking Democrat Henry Waxman responded Thursday, sending Brand a letter that stated "your legal analysis is flawed."

"Any failure to comply with the committee's subpoenas would be unwise and irresponsible," the congressmen wrote.