Congressman Gives Government Final B+ Y2K Rating

Updated 6:22 PM ET November 22, 1999

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - California Republican Rep. Stephen Horn gave the government an overall "B-Plus" rating for dealing with Year 2000 computer problems but listed air traffic control and services for he poor as continued concerns.

Horn, chairman of the House Government Reform subcommittee tracking Y2K readiness, acknowledged the progress made since he awarded a failing grade back in 1996 but said important areas of government activity were still not ready.

A Federal Aviation Administration spokesman was surprised by Horn's mention of air traffic control as a problem.

"Our systems were implemented as Y2K compliant by June 30," said FAA's Paul Takemoto. "We are testing and retesting those systems as a matter of course. We stated from the outset we would be doing that."

FAA Administrator Jane Garvey is booked to fly from Washington to San Francisco via Dallas during the date change.

Horn hoped FAA would be ready by the end of the year and said he had a plane ticket in his pocket to fly from Los Angeles to Washington on New Year's Eve. "Are they ready? They aren't. And hopefully they will be," he said.

Older computers and their software often used just two digits for the year in dates, raising the possibility of failures or confusion with 1900 hen the year 2000 arrives.

Other vulnerable federal programs listed by Horn in his final report card involved those that help children or poor people. Many are joint federal-state initiatives and not all states are Y2K ready.

Food stamps and child nutrition programs at the Department of Agriculture, Child support enforcement at the Health and Human Services Departments, and Unemployment Insurance at the Department of Labor were also on the "not ready" list, although they may be in the coming weeks.

Maryland Republican Rep. Connie Morella, chairwoman of a House technology subcommittee tracking Y2K, urged people not to panic about Y2K aviation safety. "They just won't get on the plane. It (the flight) will just be canceled," she said.

The lawmakers also urged people to have a few extra supplies on hand, the same way they should prepare for a snowstorm.

But they said people should definitely not take their money out of the bank.

"There are a lot of burglars and robbers that are just hoping you've taken the money and put it somewhere in your house," Horn said.

=================================== End

Ray

-- Ray (ray@totacc.com), November 22, 1999

Answers

B+ hmmm?

Must be grading on the curve....

-- Dennis (djolson@pressenter.com), November 22, 1999.

Let's see. Years of work, many missed deadlines, hundreds of millions of dollars spent and not yet compliant. The answer.....drum roll please......"a few extra supplies on hand." Got it.

-- smfdoc (smfdoc@aol.com), November 22, 1999.

Didn't a B+ originally mean "finished by 2002" or something like that? Sounds a bit optimistic to me.

-- Flint (flintc@mindspring.com), November 22, 1999.

Also see this Washington Post article about Congressman Horn's report:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A33566-1999Nov22.html

-- Linkmeister (link@librarian.edu), November 22, 1999.

Anyone got a definitive latest update on whether Garvey can actually find a plane to carry her? I've lost track of the number of flights she's had cancelled out from under her, but last I heard, she and Koskinen were both grounded. Poor, ordinary Joes. ;)

-- Colin MacDonald (roborogerborg@yahoo.com), November 23, 1999.

It's amazing how your grades can improve after the instructor starts tossing out all the questions you answered wrong.

-- I'm Here, I'm There (I'm Everywhere@so.beware), November 23, 1999.

He probably let them grade themselves...

-- Liz Pavek (lizpavek@hotmail.com), November 23, 1999.

FINAL Exams just around the corner.

-- Ashton & Leska in Cascadia (allaha@earthlink.net), November 23, 1999.