Congress eyes other policies

WASHINGTON - Congress is sending a message to the NFL, NBA and NHL: Now that baseball strengthened its steroids policy, we're turning our attention to you.

But those other leagues and unions aren't necessarily planning on immediately rewriting drug-testing programs.

"We don't think we need to stiffen our penalties," NFL Players Association executive director Gene Upshaw said Wednesday. "Let Congress act if they want to," Upshaw said. "We didn't need Congress to tell us to put it in, so why would we need them to modify it? It's actually our model that they have been holding up as the way to go."

That's true: During the series of House and Senate hearings on steroids in sports, Major League Baseball repeatedly was criticized, and the NFL praised.

But that changed Tuesday, when baseball owners and players agreed to a 50-game suspension without pay for a first offense, a 100-game suspension for a second offense, and a lifetime ban for a third. Baseball also added testing for amphetamines.

Under the new deal, a player would miss nearly a third of a 162-game season after a first failed test. The NFL's initial four-game penalty costs a player a quarter of a 16-game season, the NHL's 20-game initial penalty is about a quarter of an 82-game season, and the NBA's 10-game initial penalty is about an eighth of an 82-game season.

Henry Waxman, D-Calif., and Tom Davis, R-Va., have sponsored a bill with a two-year ban for a first offense and a lifetime ban for a second across pro sports. By Tuesday, though, they were supporting legislation with a half-season ban, followed by a one season ban, then lifetime ban.

While that legislation was put on hold after baseball's announcement, lawmakers made clear the threat of congressional intervention isn't disappearing.

"We'll leave it there and see what the other major league sports do," said Sen. Jim Bunning, R-Ky. "We are very anxious to rid all professional sports of any ... steroids or amphetamines."