[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 160 (Thursday, November 13, 1997)]
[Senate]
[Pages S12636-S12637]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




            YEAR 2000 PROBLEM STILL LOOMING, REQUIRES ACTION

 Mr. MOYNIHAN. Mr. President, as we approach the end of the 1st 
session of the 105th Congress, I would like to implore the Senate for 
one final time to consider the urgency of the year 2000 crisis. This 
matter has been much discussed and reported, but little action has 
taken place. In fact, the General Accounting Office last week released 
a report that the Social Security Administration, once thought to be at 
the fore of the solution, faces a possible crash of several crucial 
systems dealing with disability determination services.
  This report is indicative of the enormity of the problem facing the 
computer systems of the Federal Government. I introduced S. 22 on the 
first day of this session to establish a bipartisan national commission 
to handle this problem--as a civil defense task force would. Try as 
they might, officials at the Office of Management and Budget simply 
cannot address the enormity of the task at hand.
  Every few days I have attempted to keep my colleagues informed of the 
latest facets of the problem. On this last day of the first session let 
me add but one more twist to the immense but manageable problem. If 
only we would act. In the latest U.S. News and World Report, John Marks 
reports on the troublesome coincidence of converting to the new 
European currency at the time of the turn of the century. He writes:

       Even before it is introduced on January 1, 1999, the long 
     awaited euro threatens to cost American business $30 billion 
     or more to buy new software and recode old programs, as 
     companies with interests on the other side of the Atlantic 
     attempt to adapt to the new currency . . . the two problems 
     would seem to be unrelated. But the coincidence in timing--
     the millennium bug and the currency change arrive within a 
     year of each other--has transformed them into a larger single 
     crisis for many companies.

  Thus, international companies are forced to deal with two conversions 
in the next 2 years; and not surprisingly, experts predict there will 
be a drought in the supply of consultants who know how to do both.
  Again, U.S. News:

       Last year, after dire warnings of a technological disaster 
     at the dawn of the new century, companies rushed to hire 
     programmers to save the day. In doing so, they created a 
     labor shortage at a critical moment. Work on both the 
     millennium bug and the euro transition requires knowledge of 
     outdated COBOL computer systems. So all of a sudden, most of 
     the programmers who might be deployed to manage the 
     transition to the euro already have day jobs.

  As I have mentioned before on this floor, we must also consider the 
conversion to the Euro and the labor shortage created over the next few 
years when we consider the size of the problem at hand.
  The year 2000 problem is now fairly well known; the need for action 
plainly clear. With the legislative year coming to a close, I am 
hopeful my colleagues will realize this fact in the restful period 
between now and January 27 and be eager to take action on my bill--S. 
22 with 18 copsonsors--in the year to come.
  I ask that the article ``Latest Software Nightmare'' from the 
November 17, 1997, issue of U.S. News and World Report and ``Social 
Security Gets Year 2000 Warning'' from the November 5 Washington Post 
be printed in the Record.
  The article follows:

[[Page S12637]]

           [From the U.S. News & World Report, Nov. 17, 1997]

  Latest Software Nightmare--The Currency Change in Europe Could Cost 
                          U.S. Firms Billions

                            (By John Marks)

       For the past year or so, American businesses have been 
     forced to grapple with the ``millennium bug,'' a computer 
     programming glitch that threatens to wipe out bank accounts, 
     financial statements, and databases when the year 1999 
     becomes the year 2000. Now, companies must brace themselves 
     for another daunting--very expensive--software-related 
     problem, this one involving the new European currency known 
     as the euro.
       Even before it is introduced on Jan. 1, 1999, the long-
     awaited euro threatens to cost American business $30 billion 
     or more to buy new software and recode old programs, as 
     companies with interests on the other side of the Atlantic 
     attempt to adapt to the new currency. No later than Dec. 31, 
     1998, people doing business in Europe will have to rewrite 
     their computer software to handle three different base 
     currencies at once. The value of the euro will have to be 
     determined on a daily basis by its relationship to both the 
     dollar and other European currencies. In other words, every 
     bill, every financial statement, and every stock price in the 
     nine countries set to join what is known as the European 
     Monetary Union will have to be ``triangulated.'' So far, says 
     Sarwar Kashmeri, a corporate consultant specializing in the 
     issue, no commercial software exists to make that 
     calculation. ``We have been focusing very hard on the year-
     2000 problem, but we've been missing the euro,'' says Gary 
     Johnson, an American attorney specializing in European 
     securities markets.
       The two problems would seem to be unrelated. But the 
     coincidence in timing--the millennium bug and the currency 
     change arrive within a year of each other--has transformed 
     them into a larger, single crisis for many companies. The 
     well-publicized millennium-bug problem was unwittinly created 
     by computer programmers in the 1960s. In an effort to 
     maximize scarce computer memory, programmers left the first 
     two digits out of the year designation, so that 1997 reads 
     merely ``97.'' Theoretically, when the year 2000 arrives, 90 
     percent of the world's computers will ``think'' it is 1900, 
     creating all kinds of chaos. According to the cost 
     conservative estimates, fixing the millennium bug will cost 
     American business between $50 billion and $150 billion.


                               Bug zapper

       Last year, after dire warnings of a technological disaster 
     at the dawn of the new century, companies rushed to hire 
     programmers to save the day. In doing so, they created a 
     labor shortage at a critical moment. Work on both the 
     millennium bug and the euro transition requires knowledge of 
     outdated COBOL computer systems. So all of a sudden, most of 
     the programmers who might be deployed to manage the 
     transition to the euro already have day jobs. ``There is a 
     tremendous shortage of those kinds of skill sets,'' confirms 
     Chris Fell, an executive at International Data corp.
       Though the euro will be introduced in January 1999, it will 
     not become the sole currency in Europe until July 1, 2002. On 
     that date, all other currencies will be taken out of 
     circulation. While a large part of the U.S. business 
     community remains skeptical that Europe will pull off this 
     monetary feat, many companies have begun to accept that it 
     will. A few have begun to accept that it will. A few have 
     begun to take steps. DuPont, which has a significant presence 
     in Europe, has put together a team to prepare for the 
     introduction of the currency. United Parcel Service has done 
     the same. Both firms are looking into how to adapt their 
     computer systems.
       The change to the euro will affect some companies more than 
     others. For example, Bloomberg Financial Markets, the world's 
     largest provider of financial information, will have to add 
     the euro to 10 year's worth of records--everything from 
     trading prices to financial statements. In a recent 
     Securities and Exchange Commission filing, Alliance Gaming 
     Corp. announced that it would probably have to ``redesign new 
     and, possibly, existing'' slot machines to accept new 
     currencies.
       While the initial changeover to the euro may be a financial 
     headache, the vast new market created by the currency is 
     expected to be lucrative for American companies. And no 
     matter what it costs businesses on this side of the Atlantic 
     to adjust their information technologies, they can rest 
     assured that their European counterparts will be out even 
     more: The most recent estimate puts the price of converting 
     to the euro at $70 billion for European businesses.
                                  ____


                [From the Washington Post, Nov. 5, 1997]

Social Security Gets Year 2000 Warning--More Work Needed on Glitch, GAO 
                                  Says

                       (By Rajiv Chandrasekaran)

       The General Accounting Office today will warn that the 
     Social Security Administration (SSA) faces a possible 
     computer crash in the year 2000 because the agency has not 
     started analyzing or fixing several crucial systems affected 
     by the year 2000 software glitch.
       Among the systems not yet analyzed are most of the 54 
     computer systems that operate state disability determination 
     services, according to the GAO, the watchdog arm of Congress.
       Those systems, which are operated by individual states but 
     funded by the federal government, process applicants for 
     Supplemental Security Income and Social Security Disability 
     Insurance, programs that currently assist 12.5 million 
     people.
       ``Disruptions to this service due to incomplete Year 2000 
     conversions will prevent or delay SSA's assistance to 
     millions of individuals across the country,'' Joel 
     Willemssen, the GAO's director of information resources 
     management, wrote in a report to be released today by Sen. 
     Charles E. Grassley (R-Iowa) and Rep. Jim Bunning (R-Ky.).
       The GAO also said the Social Security Administration has 
     not developed adequate contingency plans in case its 
     computers are not fixed in time.
       The report, however, did not call into the question the 
     agency's ability to issue standard monthly Social Security 
     checks in 2000 and beyond.
       The SSA has long been touted as the federal agency that is 
     most keenly aware of the year 2000 problem. The agency, whose 
     ``mission critical'' systems collectively had been thought to 
     have about 34 million lines of computer code, began making 
     year 2000 repairs almost a decade ago.
       As a result, SSA officials have been asked to hold seminars 
     for other federal agencies about the issue and have been 
     singled out for praise by Congress in the past. The new 
     findings, congressional officials said, could create a new 
     round of uncertainty about the federal government's year 2000 
     preparedness.
       ``If Social Security, which we've thought had everything 
     under control, really doesn't, that raises new questions 
     about other agencies,'' said a congressional staffer.
       The year 2000 problem exists because most large computer 
     systems have used a two-digit dating system that assumes that 
     1 and 9 are the first two digits of the year.
       Without specialized reprogramming, the systems will think 
     the year 2000--or 00--is 1900, a glitch that could cause them 
     to go haywire.
       According to the GAO, private contractors hired by the SSA 
     to fix the year 2000 glitch on 42 of the 54 state disability 
     determination services computers discovered 33 million 
     additional lines of code that need to be tested and, where 
     necessary, fixed.
       The SSA did not include the state disability determination 
     systems in its initial assessment of the date glitch, but now 
     acknowledges that the systems are ``mission critical'' 
     because of their importance in determining whether a person 
     is medically eligible to receive disability payments, the GAO 
     report said.
       Analyzing and fixing the problem likely will be a massive 
     undertaking. In just one office, the GAO said it found 
     600,000 lines of code in 400 programs that operate the 
     disability system.
       Without a full understanding of the scope of the problem on 
     the state disability systems, ``SSA increases the risk that 
     benefits and services will be disrupted,'' the GAO wrote.
       Kathleen M. Adams, SSA's chief information officer, said 
     the agency has recently received reports from all 50 states 
     detailing their plans to fix the disability systems.
       ``They will be tested and implemented by December 1998, 
     like the rest of Social Security,'' Adams said. ``I am very 
     comfortable [the disability systems] will be ready.''
       Adams said five states already have finished the conversion 
     work for the disability systems.
       The GAO also said the SSA faces a significant challenge in 
     ensuring data that it exchanges with other federal and state 
     agencies will be year 2000 compliant.
       ``Because SSA must rely on the hundreds of federal and 
     state agencies and the thousands of businesses with which it 
     exchanges files to make their systems compliant, SSA faces a 
     definite risk that inaccurate data will be introduced into 
     its databases,'' the GAO wrote.

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