WASHINGTON – Athletes in the four major U.S. professional leagues would be subject to two-year bans for a first positive drug test under legislation proposed yesterday that would put the sports’ steroid policies under the White House drug tsar.

Senator McCain, an Arizona Republican, joined House Government Reform Committee chairman Tom Davis, Republican of Virginia, and ranking Democrat Henry Waxman of California in introducing the Clean Sports Act of 2005.

It’s the second recent bill that would establish minimum, standardized steroids policies across the spectrum of American sports. Rep. Cliff Stearns, a Florida Republican who chairs a House Commerce and Energy subcommittee, proposed the Drug Free Sports Act of 2005 last month, and his panel will write the formal legislation today.

A third committee, House Judiciary, sent a letter last week to various sports leagues and their unions asking for documents about their drug-testing policies.

“There’s got to be some kind of legislation that will absolutely test and punish professional athletes that use performance-enhancing drugs,” Mc-Cain said.

“There are a lot of issues we would much rather address,” he added. “And if the professional leagues had taken action, we would not be here today. But they have not taken sufficient action.”

While boosting strength, steroids can lead to heart attacks, strokes, cancer, sterility, and mood swings. Using most steroids without a doctor’s prescription for medical purposes has been illegal since 1991.

“Steroid use is a national public health crisis. This legislation is aimed at not only getting rid of performance enhancing drugs on the professional level, but also sends a message loud and clear to the young people of America: Steroids are illegal. Steroids are dangerous. They can be deadly. And there is no place for them in our sports leagues or our school grounds,” Davis said.

His committee held three hearings about steroid use, with witnesses including players, doctors, parents of young athletes who committed suicide after using steroids, and management and union officials from MLB, the NFL, and the NBA. Those three leagues and the NHL would be governed by the Clean Sports Act of 2005, though the director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy would have the power to add other leagues or NCAA Division I and II.

Stearns’s bill, if enacted, would put sports’ drug policies under control of the Commerce Secretary. There are other differences between the proposals. The legislation offered yesterday, for example, requires players to be tested randomly at least five times a year: three during the season, two in the off-season. Stearns’s bill requires one test.

Both bills call for testing by an independent agency. Both have two-year bans for a first offense and lifetime bans for a second, standards labeled “draconian” by NFL commissioner Paul Tagliabue at a hearing last week.

Right now, a first failed test draws a 10-day ban in baseball, a five-game ban in the NBA, and a four-game ban in the NFL. The NHL does not test players for performance-enhancing drugs. Baseball commissioner Bud Selig and NBA commissioner David Stern proposed to their unions that their punishments be toughened, while NHL commissioner Gary Bettman said he wants to add testing and penalties. Selig’s proposal would add a 50-game ban for a first offense and a lifetime ban for a third.

Davis’s legislation allows for reduced penalties if a player didn’t know he was using a prohibited substance or if he were to provide information on someone else violating the drug policy. Stearns’s proposal has strict liability: Anyone who fails a test is penalized.

All of the lawmakers present Tuesday, including co-sponsors Rep. Elijah Cummings, Democrat of Maryland, and Rep. David Souder, Republican of Indiana, said there is widespread support for the legislation.

Earlier yesterday, at a hearing about funding for the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency, McCain said the group that oversees U.S. Olympic athletes’ drug testing and punishment could do the same for professional leagues.

McCain said pro leagues would be expected to contribute money to Usada if it were to oversee their testing, but “there may be a need for some federal funding as well.”