McConnell introduces bill to make government responsible for drug testing standards

Sen. Mitch McConnell, the powerful Senate majority leader from Kentucky, has introduced a bill creating federal government regulation over a national racing board that would be responsible for setting drug-testing policies and standards for the sport.

The bill was introduced on the same day that the House of Representatives Committee on Energy and Commerce approved an amended bill that would align its own legislation with the bill filed by McConnell. Last week, McConnell announced that he would attempt to shepherd the bill through Congress, the most consequential announcement of support for the legislation since it was first introduced in 2015.

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McConnell, who lives in Louisville, announced his support after Churchill Downs Inc., which is headquartered in Louisville, lined up behind the legislation after opposing earlier versions for five years.

“We needed action to protect the sport we love, defend our history, and the 24,000 Kentuckians who work in the Thoroughbred racing industry,” McConnell said in a speech on the Senate floor on Wednesday, according to his office.

The legislation, which is supported by a broad coalition of racing organizations and racetracks, would allow the Federal Trade Commission to oversee a private, non-profit company created by the racing industry to set policies on medications, drug testing, and racetrack safety measures. The policies would be set by a nine-person board, which would contract with the United States Anti-Doping Agency, another private, non-profit company, to enforce the medication and drug-testing policies.

McConnell’s office said in a release that the Senate legislation was being co-sponsored by Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, a Democrat from New York; Sen. Martha McSally, a Republican from Arizona; and Sen. Dianne Feinstein, a Democrat from California.

Last week, McConnell said that he would consider a number of options to get approval for the legislation, including attaching the bill to other legislation worked out between himself and Rep. Nancy Pelosi, the speaker of the House.

Also on Wednesday, the board of the National Thoroughbred Racing Association, which conducts federal lobbying on behalf of the racing industry, voted to support passage of the Senate bill. The NTRA, which receives funding from a broad range of constituencies in racing, had been neutral on earlier versions of the bill due to opposition from a number of groups in racing.

In a statement, the NTRA’s president and chief executive officer, Alex Waldrop, said that the NTRA was “committed to working” with the bill’s sponsors in both the House and Senate “to pass this important legislation before the end of the year.”