WASHINGTON - When Major League Baseball commissioner Bud Selig testified before Congress in March, he defended his sport's steroids policy against withering criticism, calling it "as good as any in professional sports."

He also said he had agreed to shorter penalties "on the theory that behavior modification should be the most important goal."

Back on Capitol Hill on Wednesday, Selig articulated other goals: wiping out steroids in baseball and restoring the game's reputation.

"I'm proud of this sport, and I've been saddened by what I've read, what I've heard. Do I think a lot of it has been unfair? I do. But it's up to us to take the next step and that is to remove any doubt. There should be no equivocation about what this sport wants, what it did about it and how it cleaned it up," Selig said.

"This sport probably has never been more popular ... but the sport shouldn't tolerate for a scintilla of a second a question about its integrity."

He joined management and labor leaders from the NBA, NHL and Major League Soccer in testifying Wednesday before a House Energy and Commerce subcommittee pursuing legislation on drug testing in sports.

The panel was to hear from NFL commissioner Paul Tagliabue and NFL Players Association executive director Gene Upshaw today. Also, NBA commissioner David Stern, NBA union head Billy Hunter, Washington Wizards guard Juan Dixon and Houston Rockets trainer Keith Jones were to testify before the Government Reform Committee, which is conducting its own steroids inquiry.

It was before that panel two months ago that Selig's defiance met with disdain.

On Wednesday, the tone was far more conciliatory, with several lawmakers lauding the commissioner for his recent attempts to strengthen baseball's drug program. He testified about the details of his proposals."We need to do this as soon as possible," he said. "We just need to keep the intensity and get it done. So we can quit talking about it."Baseball banned steroids in September 2002 and instituted mandatory 10-day suspensions this season. In a letter to union head Donald Fehr last month, Selig suggested that starting in 2006, major league players be given 50-game suspensions for a first positive test for steroids, 100-game penalties for a second positive test and lifetime bans for a third. Selig also wants to ban amphetamines."Mr. Selig, you've come a long way," Rep. Fred Upton, R-Mich., said.Fehr, meanwhile, took the brunt of the criticism - and also delivered the strongest rebukes of the proposed Drug Free Sports Act, which would govern all U.S. pro sports."Are the major league players pushing you to keep these penalties where they are, or is it you who is pushing to keep the penalties where they are?" bill co-sponsor Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., asked Fehr.Fehr told lawmakers that collective bargaining was the appropriate way to deal with employment issues, "even matters as controversial and politically volatile as random suspicionless employee drug testing." He said the legislation, if enacted, might call for an unconstitutional government-mandated search without probable cause, which would violate the Fourth Amendment.He and other executives called the penalties too harsh, with Fehr saying: "A two-year suspension for a first offense would, as a practical matter, end the player's career in the vast majority of circumstances."After the hearing, subcommittee chairman Cliff Stearns, a Florida Republican, acknowledged the penalty and appeals-process portions of his legislation "might have to be tailored for each of the sports."