[Congressional Record Volume 146, Number 53 (Wednesday, May 3, 2000)]
[Senate]
[Page S3450]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                              MIKE EPSTEIN

  Mr. BYRD. Mr. President:

     God hath not promised
     Skies always blue
     Flower-strewn pathways
     All our lives through;
     God hath not promised
     Sun without rain,
     Joy without sorrow,
     Peace without pain.

     But God hath promised
     Strength for the day,
     Rest for the laborer,
     And light on the way,
     Grace for the trials,
     Help from above,
     Unfailing sympathy
     And undying love.

  Mr. President, I have quoted this bit of poetry because I am thinking 
of Mike Epstein, Senator Wellstone's long serving legislative director. 
Mike Epstein, I heard only yesterday, is gravely ill. I know that he is 
facing this news with the same gallant, noble, straightforward courage 
that has marked his entire life. I know because I employed him as a 
member of the Democratic Policy Committee staff when I was the majority 
leader of the Senate, and I have seen him in action. I have seen him at 
work many times.
  Mike is a man of lively humor, great heart, idealistic vision, and 
pragmatic understanding. Despite many years on Capitol Hill, he has 
never lost his sense of purpose in public service. He has never lost 
his desire to make the world a better place in which to live. At the 
same time, he has accumulated the political savvy and acumen to rapidly 
size up a piece of legislation, weigh its strengths and weigh its 
weaknesses, and then deliver a succinct analysis on the spot. He has 
been a fixture on the Democratic bench during debate on many bills.
  It seems it was only yesterday that I saw him back here on this 
bench. I always made it a point to speak to Mike as I went by. It may 
have been a week ago, it may have been 2 weeks ago, perhaps it was 3 
weeks ago, but he was there. And, as I say, just like always, it was as 
though it was only a few hours ago.
  He has shepherded a generation of inexperienced legislative 
assistants through the arcane minuet of amendment trees, tabling 
motions, and cloture votes. In this respect, as in so many others, Mike 
has been outstanding in his commitment to the Senate, to its 
traditions, and in giving one's best to the Nation. What more can one 
do?
  The Senate is, in many ways, Mike's enduring passion. Legislation is 
his obsession. He was a ``policy wonk'' before that phrase was ever 
coined. His friends are legion in both parties, and outside the Senate 
as well as inside the Senate, and outside both parties as well.
  Senator Wellstone and his staff are part of Mike's extended Senate 
family. I know that everyone is shocked, just as I was shocked 
yesterday, at this unexpected news and that all my colleagues join me 
in offering Mike strength and comfort.
  It brings home the memory of that scriptural passage which says:

       Man that is born of a woman is of few days, and full of 
     trouble.
       He cometh forth like a flower, and is cut down: he fleeth 
     also as a shadow, and continueth not.

  Seneca once observed that ``there is nothing in the world so much 
admired as a man who knows how to bear unhappiness with courage.'' As 
he bravely faces his toughest battle, Mike Epstein offers to each of us 
something further to admire and to cherish.
  So tonight I shall go home, remembering Mike, sitting back there on 
that bench, looking at me, smiling.
  I close with a short verse by Spencer Michael Free, ``The Human 
Touch,'' which I believe best captures the warm and caring legacy of 
Mike Epstein's long and faithful service to the Senate:

       'Tis the human touch in this world that counts,
       The touch of your hand and mine,
       Which means far more to the fainting heart
       Than shelter and bread and wine;
       For shelter is gone when the night is o'er,
       And bread lasts only a day,
       But the touch of the hand and the sound of the voice
       Sing on in the soul alway[s].

  Mr. President, I yield the floor, and I suggest the absence of a 
quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The assistant legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. BYRD. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for 
the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.

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