About two hours after former Senate Majority Leader George Mitchell released his findings, two congressmen at the forefront of Capitol Hill's involvement in the steroids issue asked Mitchell, baseball commissioner Bud Selig and union leader Donald Fehr to testify at a House committee hearing next week.

California Democrat Henry Waxman and Virginia Republican Tom Davis — the leaders of the panel that held the March 17, 2005, hearing at which Mark McGwire, Rafael Palmeiro and Sammy Sosa testified — want to know "whether the Mitchell report's recommendations will be adopted and whether additional measures are needed," they said.

"The story we have to tell the Congress ... in terms of where we are with testing, in terms of our willingness to implement the recommendations of Sen. Mitchell, is a very positive story," said Bob DuPuy, baseball's chief operating officer, "and we'll be happy to share that story with Congressman Davis or anyone else who wants to hear it on the Hill."

The legislators called for a House Oversight and Government Reform hearing Tuesday.

"This is a sad day for Major League Baseball, but a good day for integrity in sports. It's an important step towards the goal of eliminating the use of performance-enhancing substances," Waxman and Davis said in a joint statement.

"The Mitchell report is sobering. ... It shows that everyone involved in Major League Baseball bears some responsibility for this scandal," they continued.

Waxman and Davis were among several members of the House and Senate who sponsored legislation in 2005, proposing to mandate stronger steroid testing and penalties for baseball and other U.S. professional sports leagues.

Another representative who sponsored a bill and held hearings on the topic in 2005, Florida Republican Cliff Stearns, called on Selig to resign.

"Certainly, a lack of leadership and oversight in MLB enabled these abuses to continue," Stearns said yesterday. "After 15 years of slow action, a new commissioner is needed to guide the league out of this era of drug abuse."

Sen. Jim Bunning, who pitched in the major leagues and was elected to baseball's Hall of Fame in 1996, pointed to what he called "one glaring hole" in yesterday's report.

"I believe that those players who tried to gain an unfair advantage by using these substances should have their records stripped," the Kentucky Republican said.

Seven-time Cy Young Award winner Roger Clemens and 2002 AL MVP Miguel Tejada were among the dozens of current and past All-Star players named in Mitchell's 409-page report after a 20-month investigation into the use of steroids and other performance-enhancing drugs in baseball.