Congress Ready To Act On Steroids

2-Year Suspension For 1st Offense, Lifetime Ban For 2nd Offense

(CBS/AP) 
Dixon told the committee his career is a product of hard work and not cheating with steroids, reports Arenstein.

"As you can see I'm not the biggest guy. So with a lot of hard work in the gym lifting as much weights as possible I tried to develop my game," Dixon said. "I did it the old fashioned way."

Waxman called the NBA's policy "simply inadequate. Of the professional sports policies this committee has reviewed, the NBA policy appears to be the weakest."

Stern repeated what he told Stearns' subcommittee on Wednesday: He has told Hunter that he wants to add more in-season tests, double the penalty for a first offense to 10 games and kick players out of the league for a third positive test.

"The union supports some changes," Hunter said Thursday.

Davis said his bill would cover the NBA, Major League Baseball, the NFL and the NHL.

"Our investigation already has spawned results, evidenced most profoundly by Major League Baseball's abrupt about-face on the need for more stringent testing," Davis said.

When baseball commissioner Bud Selig testified before Davis' panel in March, he defended his sport's steroids policy against withering criticism, calling it "as good as any in professional sports." He also said he had agreed to shorter penalties "on the theory that behavior modification should be the most important goal."

When he returned to Capitol Hill on Wednesday to testify before Stearns' subcommittee along with the commissioners and union chiefs from the NBA, NHL and Major League Soccer, Selig articulated other goals: wiping out steroids in baseball and restoring the game's reputation.

"I'm proud of this sport, and I've been saddened by what I've read, what I've heard. Do I think a lot of it has been unfair? I do. But it's up to us to take the next step and that is to remove any doubt. There should be no equivocation about what this sport wants, what it did about it and how it cleaned it up," Selig said.

On Wednesday, several lawmakers lauding the commissioner for his recent attempts to strengthen baseball's drug program. He testified about the details of his proposals.

"We need to do this as soon as possible," Selig said. "We just need to keep the intensity and get it done. So we can quit talking about it."

Baseball banned steroids in September 2002 and instituted mandatory 10-day suspensions this season. In a letter to union head Donald Fehr last month, Selig suggested that starting in 2006, major league players be given 50-game suspensions for a first positive test for steroids, 100-game penalties for a second positive test and lifetime bans for a third. There are 162 games in a season.

Selig also wants to ban amphetamines.

"Mr. Selig, you've come a long way," said Rep. Fred Upton, R-Mich.