David Obey: “Mike Stephens served this committee for a long, long time, beginning in 1976, and served as the subcommittee clerk and…”

“Mike Stephens served this committee for a long, long time, beginning in 1976, and served as the subcommittee clerk and staff director for the Labor-HHS and Education Subcommittee from 1990 to 1994. He then served as the chief minority staffer for that subcommittee from January 1995 until he retired from his job in January 1996. I think anyone who knows Mike Stephens knows that most of what the Congress has done in support of biomedical research through the years, it has done because of his knowledge and his guidance. No one who has served this committee, and I would certainly say no Member, knows more about the needs of biomedical research in this country or the inner workings of the National Institutes of Health than does Mike Stephens, and no one on Capitol Hill has been more responsible for the funding levels that we have provided for biomedical research through the years than has Mike Stephens. I must say as a person who came to cherish his friendship, his personal friendship, as well as his professional knowledge, I think the Congress has experienced a great loss with his decision to leave us.”