WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senators John D. (Jay) Rockefeller IV (D-WV) and John Thune (R-SD), chairman and ranking member of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, today issued the following joint statement on the passage of the United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) Reauthorization Act:

“We are pleased to see that the United States Anti-Doping Agency Reauthorization Act is heading to the president’s desk. This bill will ensure that USADA has the resources it needs to protect clean competition in the Olympic and Paralympic movements. Between the passage of the USADA Reauthorization Act and separate legislation to crack down on anabolic steroids, today may be the single-most productive day in the history of the Senate on anti-doping accomplishments.”

USADA is a not-for-profit, non-governmental agency that is recognized by Congress as the national anti-doping organization for the Olympics in the United States. USADA was first authorized in 2006 and the authorization expired in fiscal year 2010. The United States Anti-Doping Agency Reauthorization Act (S. 2338) would authorize funding for the agency through fiscal year 2020. 

Among other provisions, the bill will allow the agency to expand and modernize its drug testing efforts. In so doing, the bill would update the agency’s role in preventing all forms of performance enhancing methods, such as gene-doping and blood manipulation, in addition to banned substances. 

The Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee has general jurisdiction over sports, including amateur sports and the professional leagues.

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