Congress Holds Dueling Hearings Over Drug Use

Professional sports executives and union leaders withstood a second day of grilling Thursday as rival committees in Congress, wrestling with each other for control of the headline-grabbing issue, prepared to crack down on illegal drug use in major league sports.

In a frosty exchange, NBA Commissioner David Stern bristled at a suggestion from Rep. Stephen Lynch (D-Mass.) that last fall’s brawl between Indiana Pacer Ron Artest and Detroit Piston fans should have triggered a test for steroids, which Lynch said are known to cause aggressive behavior. Lynch called the NBA steroid testing policy “pathetic.”

Arguing that the NBA does not have a steroid problem, since its players prize speed and agility more than sheer bulk, Stern said, “It worries me greatly if the absence of testing” is used by Congress for a broad-brush accusation of drug use in the NBA.

“On behalf of the players of the NBA I would like to say that the guilt you seek to attribute to them on basis of this policy is ill taken and very unfair,” said Stern in testimony before the House Government Reform Committee.

But Stern, like baseball Commissioner Bud Selig on Wednesday, acknowledged that Congress’ high-profile campaign against steroids, along with increasing reports of steroid abuse by teenagers, has forced organized sports to get tougher.

Stern said he had no evidence of steroid use by basketball players, “but we owe it to the public” to up the ante. He has proposed a new policy in which veterans, now tested only once a year, would face up to three tests during the season, one in the off-season and one during the exhibition season.

That proposal is part of negotiations for a new collective bargaining agreement. Billy Hunter, executive director of the National Basketball Players Assn., said the union supported some changes. But the talks, facing a June 30 deadline, broke down Wednesday, reportedly on another issue.

While Selig and Stern signaled that they could support federal legislation on drug testing, the NFL, in a different House hearing room, objected.

Commissioner Paul Tagliabue, appearing before a House Energy and Commerce subcommittee, said the NFL’s leaders “strongly support the principle of a drug-free sport” but not legislation that would make the Canada-based World Anti-Doping Agency, which governs international sports, a new drug czar for American football players.

Referring to the federal government’s National Institute of Drug Abuse, he said, “We think the NIDA would be the appropriate agency here, not an agency in Montreal which is responsible to an agency in Switzerland.”

Members of Congress praised Tagliabue for having developed a program in which players face mandatory and unannounced tests during training camp and during the season. “In many ways, ya’ll have done an excellent job,” said Joe Barton (R-Tex.), chairman of the Energy and Commerce Committee.

At virtually the same time, members of the House Government Reform Committee were listening to Juan Dixon, a Washington Wizard player who testified in support of tougher testing.

Scouts once assumed that at 6 feet 3 Dixon was too short for the NBA, but he said he succeeded through hard work in the gym, without drugs. “I know how hard I have worked to become a professional athlete and believe that maintaining a level playing field is vital to the integrity of the sport,” Dixon said.

Rep. Cliff Stearns (R-Fla.), chairman of the House Energy and Commerce subcommittee, has introduced a bill calling for a two-year suspension for the first offense and a lifetime ban for a second one. After the hearings this week, he and Barton signaled that they are willing to work with the leagues to tailor the bill to their sports’ needs.

The two-year suspension for a first-time offense provoked the most protest from players’ representatives. “The players understand what this is all about,” said Gene Upshaw, executive director of the NFL Players Assn. “We understand our roles as role models, [but] we strongly believe as players that the two-year ban is too much.”

Beyond the particulars of a federal bill on drug testing, Stern raised the issue of who would pay for testing of drugs that are not believed to be a problem in a particular sport. Tagliabue also raised the issue of funding.

“I don’t want to spend millions of dollars on a test someone says I have to do to make them look good in an international forum when our medical people say it’s not validated,” Tagliabue said.

Some observers questioned why Congress was getting involved in the drug policies of privately owned sports leagues.

“Traditionally, criminal law is where states have authority and power,” said Trent England, a legal policy analyst for the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank. “It certainly appears that the only federal interest here is TV news.”

The public spotlight continues next week, when the subject moves to the Senate Commerce Committee and a rival bill, being drafted by Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) and Reps. Tom Davis (R-Va.) and Henry Waxman (D-Los Angeles), is expected to be introduced.

Both bills are works in progress, making comparisons difficult, but sources said the McCain-Davis-Waxman bill would require a two-year suspension whereas Stearns has signaled some flexibility on the penalties.

In addition, the McCain bill would put testing under the White House drug czar; Stearns’ would vest authority in the U.S. Commerce Secretary. The McCain bill would test for all drugs tested under the Olympics protocol; Stearns’ would give the Commerce Secretary discretion.

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Neuman reported from Washington, Elliott from Los Angeles.