There is sentiment that baseball's newly toughened steroid policy has been accepted by the players' association because they had no other choice. Some feel that commissioner Bud Selig used the threat of Congressional action to force the union's hand on the steroid issue. It is now possible that negotiation over a new labor contract will be more difficult than previously assumed. The current contract expires December 19, 2006.
See "Congress Nudges Union in Selig's New Lineup", Murray Chass, The New York Times, November 15, 2005