NFL asks Congress to intervene on anti-doping

The House subcommittee on commerce, trade and consumer protection heard testimony Tuesday from NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell and players association executive director DeMaurice Smith on the extent of the jurisdiction of the league's steroid-testing program, an issue raised by court rulings that have prevented the enforcement of four-game suspensions of two Minnesota Vikings.

Goodell told the subcommittee that Congress should enact "narrow" legislation to ensure that the league's collectively bargained steroid-testing program supersedes any state laws with which it might conflict and criticized the NFLPA's role in the cases in question. Smith said the union merely was attempting to protect the rights of the players involved.

After Vikings defensive tackles Pat Williams and Kevin Williams were suspended four games last year for testing postive for the banned diuretic bumetanide, they said they had ingested it unknowingly by taking the weight loss product StarCaps. The players and the union took legal action in federal and state courts, contending that representatives of the league's steroid-testing program knew StarCaps contained bumetanide but failed to warn players properly.

The case has played out in federal and state courts. A federal appeals court upheld a previous ruling by a federal judge rejecting most of the claims by the players and the union, but also sending two issues involving Minnesota workplace laws back to a state court to be decided there.

Rep. Bobby L. Rush (D-Ill.), the chairman of the subcommittee, said the league and union first should be given a chance to resolve the matter through collective bargaining but that Congress will keep a "wary eye" on developments because the case is "currently sending the wrong message."

Rep. Henry A. Waxman (D-Calif.) agreed that Congress should act only if the courts or the parties are unable to resolve the issues. "One thing is clear: We should not allow the drug policies that the NFL, Major League Baseball and other sports have put in place to be rendered null and void," Waxman said.