Statements on Introduced Bills and Joint Resolutions

STATEMENTS ON INTRODUCED BILLS AND JOINT RESOLUTIONS

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By Mr. GRASSLEY (for himself, Mr. BIDEN, Mr. MCCAIN, and Mr. STEVENS):

S. 529. A bill to designate a United States Anti-Doping Agency; to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation.

Mr. GRASSLEY. Mr. President, America is a nation of sports fans and sports players. In fact, it is hard to imagine something more influential in today's society than athletics. As children, we grow up emulating our favorite players in the backyard. Year in and year out we watch and hope that this is the year our favorite team makes it to the Super Bowl, the World Series, or the Big Dance. And every 4 years we watch in pride and tally the medals as American athletes compete in the Olympic games.

Every day millions of young people from across the country share the same dream of one day playing in the big leagues. But the reality is that most will never get the chance. In an average year, there are approximately 2 million high school boys playing football, baseball, and basketball. Another 68,000 men are playing the sports in college and 2,500 are participating at the major/professional level. In short, only 1 in 736, or 0.14 percent will ever play professional sports.

With that kind of competition, compounded by the lure of fame, endorsements and multi-million dollar contracts, an increasing number of young athletes are giving in to the seduction of performance enhancing drugs hoping to gain an edge on their peers. And what can you expect when some of the biggest superstars in sports have been found using steroids as a way to improve their performance. But, unlike better athletic gear, better nutrition, and better training, injecting and ingesting performance enhancing drugs as a shortcut to the big leagues jeopardizes the health and safety of young athletes and cheapens the legitimacy of competition.

In an effort to combat the use of performance enhancing drugs at the youth and amateur sports level, I am pleased to be joined by my colleagues Senator BIDEN, Senator MCCAIN and Senator STEVENS in introducing legislation to authorize continued Federal funding for the United States Anti-Doping Agency, USADA. As the anti-doping agency for the United States Olympic movement since 2000, USADA is responsible for ensuring that U.S. athletes participating in Olympic competition do not use performance enhancing drugs. Through its efforts, USADA is establishing a drug free standard for amateur athletic competition. This is achieved through testing, research, education, and adjudication.

USADA conducts nearly 6,500 random drug tests on athletes annually and has made anti-doping presentations to over 3,000 athletes and coaches last year alone. Over the last 2 years, USADA has worked to prevent U.S. Olympic athletes who have used banned substances from participating in the Olympic Games. But for the efforts of USADA, it is possible that more than a dozen elite U.S. athletes would have participated in the Athens Games last Summer and potentially embarrassed the U.S. once their drug use was exposed. USADA also works to fund research, including more than $3 million in grants for anti-doping research over the past 2 years, which is more than any other anti-doping agency in the world. The research and testing standards serve as models for other amateur athletic associations who wish to protect the health of their athletes and the fair competition of sport.

To date, the Federal Government has provided approximately 60 percent of USADA's operational budget, with the remainder of the agency's budget provided by the U.S. Olympic Committee and private funding sources. With continued support and proper funding, USADA could expand and improve upon the programs for anti-doping that already exist and continue to enhance the credibility of U.S. athletes in the eyes of the international sports community.

While the issue of anabolic steroids has received a great deal of national and international attention in the context of professional sports, the importance of stopping steroid abuse extends far beyond the track, baseball diamond, or football field. Instead our focus should be on the health and future of our children. I encourage my colleagues to join in support of this legislation to set the standard for free and fair competition.

Mr. President. I ask unanimous consent that the text of this bill be printed in the RECORD.

There being no objection, the bill was ordered to be printed in the RECORD, as follows:

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