[Congressional Record Volume 151, Number 148 (Wednesday, November 9, 2005)]
[Senate]
[Pages S12604-S12605]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                  INTEGRITY IN PROFESSIONAL SPORTS ACT

  Mr. DOMENICI. Mr. President, I rise to express my support for the 
Integrity in Professional Sports Act, S. 1960. I am deeply troubled by 
the accounts of children and professional athletes who use anabolic 
steroids and other performance-enhancement drugs. The effects of taking 
steroids are not only physiological, but psychological. Experts have 
testified before Congress that steroid use creates an increased 
propensity for aggressive and sometimes criminal behavior. It is clear 
to me that the use of performance enhancing drugs reveals a number of 
problems, one of which is a problem of character.
  As many of my colleagues may know, for the past 12 years, I have been 
involved in a grassroots program to promote character education for our 
country's children. The Character Counts program is an important 
grassroots effort that I am proud to have supported. Most recently, on 
October 7, 2005, 28 Senators joined Senator Christopher Dodd and I in 
sponsoring a resolution to designate ``National Character Counts 
Week.'' The program promotes six fundamental and universal pillars of 
good character. Those are trustworthiness, respect, responsibility, 
fairness, caring, and citizenship. A central premise of the Character 
Counts program has held that children across the country depend on 
social institutions and leaders for the development of good character. 
For children, these leaders and role models are often found on the 
rosters of professional sports teams. When our children see 
professional athletes engaging in the use of steroids, they begin to 
question the importance of pillars such as trustworthiness, 
responsibility, and fairness.
  Speaking as a former baseball pitcher for the University of New 
Mexico and the Albuquerque Dukes, I cannot emphasize enough the 
importance of trustworthiness and fairness in sportsmanship. As 
athletes, my teammates and I understood that the integrity of the game 
depended on knowledge that your competitors brought no advantage other 
than talent and hard work to the playing field. To think that your 
competitors used steroids to enhance their athletic performance would 
mean that the game itself was compromised.

[[Page S12605]]

  S. 1960 is important legislation because it makes clear that all 
athletes participating in professional sports will be held to the same 
standards of fair play. By instituting minimum standards for the 
testing of steroids, professional sports teams and professional 
athletes can regain the respect and trust of the American people. It is 
important that we hold adults to the same standards of character as we 
do our children. Young people look up to professional athletes as role 
models. We owe it to them to make sure that adults behave according to 
the same standards of trustworthiness, fairness, and respect.

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