Given all the problems that need solving, what possible reason could there be for Congress to spend its time and our money holding hearings today on the use of steroids in professional baseball?
Isn't that something Major League Baseball should do? Or maybe a law enforcement agency. But Congress?
Richard Justice of the
Houston Chronicle writes:
If Congress really cared about steroids, it would have passed meaningful legislation years ago.
This latest round of hearings isn't about doing anything. With all
the lawyers and private investigators and PR suits getting their 15
minutes, it was only a matter of time before Congress saw an
opportunity for some potentially great television.
He continues:
Do we need hearings to tell us that baseball had a drug problem?
I'm glad (Roger) Clemens will have the opportunity to tell his story with a
perjury rap hanging over his head, but in the end, it's about as
important as Britney's latest meltdown.
We need Congress to pass legislation toughening the penalties for
possessing and distributing steroids. We need Congress to attempt to
mandate Olympic-caliber drug testing for professional athletes.
We need Congress to act instead of
talk. ...
Instead, Congress threatens and Congress blusters and Congress does nothing of substance.
But wait a minute.
This Boston University professor argues that Congress has the right, if not the duty, to investigate the baseball steroid scandal.
He notes that Congress responded to concerns about juvenile delinquency and the effect of comic books on young people in the 1950s, as well as other matters of concern:
It's true that Congress has many more important
things to worry about. But systematic drug abuse by prominent athletes
is a legitimate issue for it to consider. One function of Congress has
always been to hold hearings about issues that worry the public. ...
Nor can the sports industry claim immunity from government scrutiny.
Sports have received extensive government assistance at the national,
state and local levels. It's dishonest for baseball officials to claim
that a steroid abuse scandal among players and league officials is
"private business." The reality is that the sports industry has greatly
benefited from exemptions to the anti-trust laws, subsidies for stadium
construction and an assortment of federal tax breaks. ...
Congress also can legitimate its current steroid investigation on the
basis of a solid precedent of looking into sports corruption. The
Senate conducted hearings in 1960, for instance, into the role of
organized crime in professional boxing. Former middleweight boxing
champion Jake LaMotta made a stunning appearance when he admitted that
he had thrown a fight in 1947. LaMotta went through with the testimony
even though mobsters had threatened to kill him.
