No congressional hearing for Alex Rodriguez

Alex Rodriguez will have to answer to the court of public opinion after admitting that he used performance-enhancing drugs from 2001 to 2003.

But the Yankees star apparently won't have to sit at a table and tell his tale to Congress.

Sports Illustrated carries an AP report [wire service added at 3:42 p.m.] that the new chairman of the House committee that had Roger Clemens, Mark McGwire and Rafael Palmeiro tell what they knew about steroids in baseball doesn't think his committee will ask or demand that Rodriguez appear.

Here's a quote from Sports Illustrated on what House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform Chairman Edolphus Towns (D-N.Y.) had to say on the matter:

"The American people need leaders who will focus on stemming job losses and getting credit to flow in the marketplace before hearing from yet another person who cheated both himself and the game of baseball."

Towns' comments came the same day that Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner unveiled the Obama administration's financial markets stabilization plan (with a price tag of $1.5 trillion to $2 trillion).

That news sent the major stock indexes tumbling, with the Dow Jones industrial average finishing the day down nearly 400 points.

-- Greg Johnson

Photo: Alex Rodriguez. Credit: Julie Jacobson / Associated Press