The Banners' Red Glare

Matt Welch | May 19, 2005

Two revealing quotes about Congress' ideas on limited government and federalism, from yesterday's latest steroids hearings in D.C.:

"I really think there needs to be a federal standard," said House Energy and Commerce Chairman Joe Barton, R-Texas. "We have gone far too long asking the marketplace to do it. ... We're going to try to set up a federal standard that does it." [...]

"Disparate policies tailored for and by each league are at risk of being overwhelmed by newer, more sophisticated threats like designer steroids, gene doping and more creative drug-masking techniques," Rep. Cliff Stearns, R-Fla., the bill's chief sponsor, said at the hearing.

That bill, H.R. 1862, would force every single professional sporting league to ban first-time offenders for two years, and second-time offenders for life. What's more, there's other legislation coming down the pike that'll be even more harsh:

House Government Reform Committee chairman Tom Davis, R-Va., promised that the legislation he's drafting with ranking Democrat Henry Waxman of California and Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., "will have more teeth than other bills introduced."