Y2K Chief Koskinen Testifies Before Senate Appropriations Committee

(January 16, 1999)  John Koskinen, Chairman of the Council on Year 2000 Conversion, testified before the Senate Appropriations Committee Friday morning, January 15, 1999.  He testified that he did not expect the federal government to need more than the $3.35 Billion which the Congress appropriated in October 1998 for emergency expenses related to Year 2000 conversion.

The Congress passed, and President Clinton signed into law, last October an Omnibus Appropriations Bill which provided $3.35 Billion for emergency expenses related to Year 2000 conversion of federal information technology systems and related expenses.

In response to questions from Sen. Ted Stevens (R-AK), the Chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee, Koskinen testified that he did not expect to need a supplemental emergency fund.

Koskinen also testified regarding the status of remediation efforts.   He stated that "61 percent of all Federal mission-critical systems are now Year 2000 compliant -- more than double the 27 percent compliant a year ago. These systems have been tested and implemented and will be able to accurately process data through the transition from 1999 into the Year 2000."

Koskinen testified regarding the progress on remediating "mission critical systems."  For example, he said that "we expect that all of the Government's critical systems will be Y2K compliant before January 1, 2000."   Sen. Stevens followed up by asking repeatedly about non-mission-critical systems.   In particular, he asked when the government would give public notice of which non-mission-critical government systems would not be remediated by January 1, 2000.   Koskinen was repeatedly evasive and non-responsive to these questions.

Several Senators asked questions about the status of Year 2000 remediation efforts by state and local governments, foreign governments, and the private sector, particularly small businesses.  Sen. Stevens discussed the possibility of providing federal funding to some state and local governments.  He pointed out that "some states may not be able to secure funding because of their funding process."

Sen. Kit Bond (R-MO) discussed Small Business Administration lending for Year 2000 remediation, while Sen. Harry Reid (D-NV) discussed the progress of   foreign governments with Koskinen.

Media reports that the Clinton impeachment trial would grind Senate business to a halt appeared overstated, as ten Senators participated in Friday morning's hearing.  This is more than usual for most Senate committee hearings that do not involve the taking of votes.  Also, the Senators outnumbered the representatives of the news media, which is quite unusual.

The Senators who participated in the hearing were Ted Stevens (R-AK), Ben Campbell (R-CO), Slade Gorton (R-WA), Kit Bond (R-MO), Larry Craig (R-ID), Jon Kyl (R-AZ), Bob Bennett (R-UT), Harry Reid (D-NV), Conrad Burns (R-MT), and Richard Durbin (D-IL).