Baltimore Orioles second baseman Brian Roberts suggested the players might not be eager to rewrite the testing policies again so soon. "We went through this process this winter," Roberts said. "We unprecedentedly reopened our labor agreement to do this -- because we really felt we were doing the right thing. We felt we were putting our foot down saying, 'This is what we're going to do. This is going to work.' I really think we should give this a chance."
DuPuy said MLB would welcome a return to the bargaining table to revise the steroid-testing program if the union agrees.
Baseball Commissioner Bud Selig, left, and MLB President Robert DuPuy listen to testimony during Thursday's House committee hearing on steroids.
(Jason Reed -- Reuters)
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DuPuy also said he expects baseball's new testing program to be ratified without a provision allowing Selig to impose a $10,000 fine in lieu of a 10-day suspension for first offenders -- one of the lawmakers' biggest criticisms of the policy during Thursday's hearing.
League and union sources questioned the feasibility of congressional action to compel a tougher steroid-testing policy, given the reach of federal labor laws.
"I don't think it has ever been contemplated that Congress would, in effect, become a third-party overseer in a collective bargaining agreement," one official said. "Do they really want to be part of collective bargaining across the country on these types of things? It would be a precedent, that's for sure."
However, Lynch predicted it would be "very easy" to enact such legislation.
"This committee and Congress oversee the federal Controlled Substances Act and the federal drug laws," Lynch said. "And we have cause here. There is abuse in this industry. Any court in the land would stand with Congress in its responsibility to uphold the laws."
Shipley reported from Miami. Staff writer Jorge Arangure Jr. in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., contributed to this report.
