Another hearing on drugs in sports

Congress will take yet another look at drugs in sports next week, with a hearing that will feature top names from all four major professional leagues, the NCAA and the U.S. Olympic Committee.

Baseball commissioner Bud Selig, NFL commissioner Roger Goodell, NBA commissioner David Stern and NHL commissioner Gary Bettman are scheduled to testify Wednesday before a House subcommittee that has been working separately from the committee that held last week's high-profile hearing featuring Roger Clemens.

Also on the witness list are players' union executive directors Donald Fehr (baseball), Gene Upshaw (NFL), William Hunter (NBA) and Paul Kelly (NHL).

The House Subcommittee on Commerce, Trade and Consumer Protection has scheduled the hearing for Wednesday on "Drugs in Sports: Compromising the Health of Athletes and Undermining the Integrity of Competition."

Meanwhile, the committee that questioned Clemens has yet to decide whether to seek a criminal investigation into the seven-time Cy Young award winner or his former personal trainer for possibly lying to Congress. Clemens denied using steroids or human growth hormone at last week's hearing and previously in a sworn deposition, while the trainer, Brian McNamee, testified that Clemens did use those substances and said the same in a deposition.

"Frankly, we're still reviewing all the evidence and all the testimony to try to see where we go next," committee Republican counsel Keith Ausbrook said. "At the earliest, something could happen in the next week, but that doesn't mean it will happen. There's no expectation or plan for it to happen next week."

Congress is not in session this week. California Democrat Henry Waxman, the chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, said last week he had "not focused on" the possibility of perjury charges against Clemens or McNamee.

Legally, the FBI could open a perjury investigation without being asked to do so by Congress. Perjury cases are rare, with as few as 10 cases prosecuted in Washington over the last decade, said defense attorney Bob Spagnoletti, a former federal prosecutor and District of Columbia attorney general.

"When you have a he-said, he-said without a lot of independent evidence, it's very tough to make a perjury case," Spagnoletti said.

Last month, the committee asked the Justice Department to investigate whether Houston Astros shortstop Miguel Tejada lied in an August 2005 interview about the perjury case of former teammate Rafael Palmeiro. The Tejada investigation is ongoing.

The subcommittee holding next week's hearing also shadowed the reform committee's baseball inquiries three years ago. The subcommittee held a hearing on drugs in baseball in May 2005, two months after the reform committee's session that featured Mark McGwire, Sammy Sosa and Rafael Palmeiro.

Also slated to testify next week are USOC chief executive officer Jim Scherr, U.S. Anti-Doping Agency CEO Travis Tygart, NCAA president Myles Brand, National Federation of State High School Associations executive director Robert Kanaby and National Thoroughbred Racing Association CEO Alexander Waldrop.

Former Sen. George Mitchell, who in December released a report on drug use in baseball, will not attend but is expected to submit written testimony.

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AP Sports Writer Howard Fendrich and Assoicated Press Writer Lara Jakes Jordan contributed to this report.