The House Government Reform Committee subpoenaed the policy last week, and House and Senate members were sharply critical of the plan as details emerged. For example, while baseball officials had promised that players would face a mandatory suspension for 10 days for a first steroid offense, the policy sent to Congress said the actual penalty would be a 10-day suspension or a $10,000 fine.

Some suggested that the policy would allow multimillionaire players to buy their way out of a suspension. "That is a far cry from the strict 10-day suspension that the league and the players' union have led the public to believe would be the penalty for a first-time offense," Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) wrote to baseball officials. "I can reach no conclusion but that the league and the players' union have misrepresented to me and to the American public the substance of MLB's new steroid policy."

Rob Manfred, baseball's executive vice president for labor, replied, "Once a positive test is established, the union has surrendered its right and the commissioner can and will impose a 10-day suspension. It's automatic. There's no debate about it. The parties understood at the table that there would be a 10-day suspension for a positive test."

Baseball officials and player's union members also were accused of trying to thwart a government investigation into steroid use among players. In a letter to baseball commissioner Bud Selig and union chief Donald Fehr, House leaders also complained that the policy excluded testing for many substances commonly used by athletes, such as human growth hormone, and that the plan was rife with opportunities for cheating. For instance, the policy allows players to leave the room in the middle of a drug test.

Today's House hearings will include appearances by six former and current players, Selig, Fehr, and two parents of young athletes who committed suicide after using steroids. The role of baseball players as role models for youth will be a major point of the hearings, committee leaders said.

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