INQUIRER Sports

WASHINGTON -- US lawmakers will push scandal-ridden Major League Baseball for tougher drug tests and an independent anti-doping program when Commissioner Bud Selig and union boss Don Fehr attend a Tuesday hearing.

Former US Senator George Mitchell, whose 20-month probe into dope cheats in the American pastime revealed 92 players linked to performance-enhancing drugs, will also attend the US House of Representatives Oversight Committee gathering.

But Fehr, who urged players not to cooperate with Mitchell's investigation, and Selig, who has already started implementing Mitchell's suggestions for rebuilding the sport's credibility, will take the hard questions from Congress.

"We look forward to their testimony on whether the Mitchell report's recommendations will be adopted and whether additional measures are needed," committee chair Henry Waxman said.

Mitchell's report, released exactly a month ago, named US home run king Barry Bonds, who faces charges for lying to a grand jury, and pitcher Roger Clemens, the subject of a February 13 hearing, as the top stars involved in a culture of cheating.

"It shows the use of steroids and human growth hormone has been and is a significant problem in Major League Baseball," Waxman said. "It shows everyone involved in Major League Baseball bears some responsibility for this scandal."

Representative Cliff Stearns, a Florida Republican, urged Selig to resign in the wake of the doping scandal unveiled by the probe Selig authorized in March of 2006 after a book's revelations detailed Bonds' doping connections.

"A lack of leadership and oversight in Major League Baseball enabled these abuses to continue. After 15 years of slow action, a new commissioner is needed to guide the league out of this era of drug abuse," Stearns said.

"Congress needs to evaluate the substance and recommendations of the report as well as other necessary steps to get drugs out of Major League Baseball," Stearns said.

Selig has already acted on recommendations from the Mitchell Report that he has the power to impose without the approval of Fehr, such as tighter security in team clubhouses and a halt to prior notification to clubs before dope tests.

Major League Baseball announced the creation of an investigations department on Friday, another idea Mitchell championed.

Fehr has championed the privacy of player medical records and fought blood testing for human growth hormone (HGH) as well as helping make sure almost no active players spoke to Mitchell's panel.

Union leaders fought for years to keep drug testing out of baseball. That move is now haunting those trying to prove their innocence from doping accusations without a history of negative tests to support their claims.

Fehr's player advocacy positions figure to put him on the hot seat when lawmakers demand a tougher stance, even after Fehr and Selig have twice agreed upon tougher penalties for dope cheats.

"I urge the baseball players and players' union to cooperate with management to implement the recommendations set forward in this report," Representative Elijah Cumming said.

"The first step in restoring the reputation of baseball is taking all necessary actions to show cheating will no longer be tolerated. We cannot afford to sit on the sidelines while some players destroy the integrity of this sport," Cumming said.

The lack of an effective urine test for HGH and the belief by some critics that it has become the drug of choice for baseball dope cheats make blood tests for HGH a likely topic for lawmakers.

Selig also would need union backing to create an independent testing group that would make results public and start year-round random unannounced drug testing, two major suggestions of Mitchell's report.

"I'm looking forward to seeing how serious they take this issue and how quickly they will implement these and other reforms," said representative Christopher Shays. "The common-sense recommendations the report has laid out should be enacted as soon as possible."