[Congressional Record Volume 146, Number 19 (Monday, February 28, 2000)]
[Senate]
[Pages S844-S845]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                           THE Y2K COMMITTEE

  Mr. BENNETT. Mr. President, as I said, I have two items to 
commemorate. That is the first one, an item of some nostalgia looking 
forward. The second one actually is tomorrow, but I will take advantage 
of being here now to talk about something that comes to an end 
tomorrow.
  The Presiding Officer was intimately involved, as he served as a 
member of the Senate's Special Committee on the Year 2000 Technology 
Problem, a committee that officially goes out of existence tomorrow. 
There were many who said, when the committee was formed: There is 
nothing so permanent as a temporary government program. You will find 
an excuse somehow, some way, to keep this committee alive for years.
  It is with some pride I point out that we are not doing that. The 
committee was organized to deal with the year 2000 technology problem. 
The committee dealt with the problem. The committee was scheduled to go 
out of existence on February 29, when presumably the problem would be 
behind us. The problem is behind us, and the committee will disband as 
of tomorrow.
  I pay tribute to the vice chairman of the committee, Christopher 
Dodd, the Senator from Connecticut. As chairman of the committee, I 
could not ask for a better partner. I could not ask for a more 
cooperative or dedicated partner in working on this particular problem. 
We acknowledge the other members of the committee, starting with the 
distinguished occupant of the Chair, Senator Kyl from Arizona; Senator 
Moynihan from New York; Senator Smith from Oregon; Senator Edwards from 
North Carolina, who was preceded on the committee by Senator Bingaman 
from New Mexico; Senator Lugar from Indiana, who was preceded on the 
committee by the junior Senator from Maine, Ms. Collins; and then, of 
course, the two ex officio members of the committee who attended 
committee hearings, paid attention to the committee activities, and 
contributed significantly to it, that is, the chairman and ranking 
member of the Senate Appropriations Committee, Senator Stevens and 
Senator Byrd.

  There are many people who say: Well, you really didn't have a 
problem, did you? You formed this committee, and then, look, nothing 
happened with respect to Y2K.
  It reminds me a little of the story attributed to Bob Hope, who said: 
You know, I really don't appreciate the way the Army treats me when I 
go out on these USO tours over the holidays. At Christmas, I go all 
around the world to put on shows for the GIs. They tell me I am going 
into dangerous parts of the world, so they use me as a pin cushion; 
they fill me full of shots before I go. It is a complete waste of time 
because I have never gotten sick once in any of these places.
  I think that can be said to a certain extent with respect to the Y2K 
problem. Many people are saying: Gee, you wasted all our time and 
money. Look, nothing happened.
  The record is fairly clear that had we, as a Nation, not focused on 
this issue and dealt with it, we would have had very significant 
problems.
  When the committee was formed, I set one goal, among others, which I 
believe we very much met and I feel very proud about having achieved. 
As we looked out over the Nation and, indeed, the world with respect to 
the Y2K problem, the one thing that was clear was that no one knew the 
extent of the problem. No one knew how it was going to play out, and 
there was no place one could go to get that information. So I 
challenged the staff as well as the members of the committee.
  I said: If we do nothing else in this committee, we will become the 
repository of accurate information about Y2K. All over the world, 
people will know that if they want to find the best source of where 
things are with respect to Y2K, they will want to come to the Senate 
Special Committee on the Year 2000 Technology Problem.
  I believe we met that challenge. I believe by the last few months of 
Y2K, it was recognized virtually around the world that the Senate 
reports on Y2K were the most authoritative, the most complete, and 
ultimately the most dependable.
  A lot of people don't realize we were saying in those last few 
months: There will not be a Y2K problem in the United States. I used to 
say that in speeches, and I would have people challenge me: How can you 
say that? Sometimes they would quote my own earlier speeches back to me 
because early on I was raising the alarm and predicting significant 
problems. I was predicting those problems on the basis of the 
information then available. But as the committee fulfilled its function 
and became the repository of accurate information, committee spokesmen 
and women would stand and say again and again: We are probably not 
going to have any serious problems in the United States.
  Then people said to us: Well, why did you miss it overseas? There 
weren't serious problems overseas?
  I have two observations on that. First, we did not have the same 
degree of accurate information about situations overseas that we had in 
the United States. We were unable to reach the same level in dealing 
with information that came from outside the country as we did from 
information within the country. Second, we had more problems overseas 
than the press has reported. There were many people who were simply 
embarrassed about their Y2K problem and didn't talk about it. Indeed, 
we had some examples before the committee of problems that did exist 
and were later denied simply because of the embarrassment people would 
feel if they admitted they had had difficulties.
  The ultimate question is: Was it worth it? Did we, in fact, make a 
contribution worth the amount of money we spent to staff this 
committee? I say without any hesitation, yes, it was very much worth 
it. We are seeing benefits over and above the contribution the 
committee made to alleviating the problem.
  John Hamre, Deputy Secretary of Defense, has publicly stated: If it 
were not for the process we went through to deal with Y2K in the 
Defense Department, we would have had serious Y2K problems and we would 
not have the information we now have.
  In responding to the pressure from Y2K, the Defense Department, for 
the first time in its history, now has an inventory of all of their 
computer systems together with a ranking as to which of those systems 
are mission critical and which are not. One might think in a straight 
management assignment the Defense Department would have that 
information anyway. They did not have it before we caused them, in an 
effort to respond to the inquiries from the committee, to go through 
the process of gathering it.
  Alan Greenspan has been quoted as saying that in American industry at 
large, the effect of the Y2K remediation activity has caused American 
business men and women to understand

[[Page S845]]

their vulnerability and dependability on computers in a way they never 
understood before and that the investment of bringing everything up to 
the highest possible level is an investment that will pay significant 
financial dividends for the economy in the years ahead.
  So as I look back on those activities and those accomplishments, I 
express satisfaction for the work of the committee, a degree of 
satisfaction for whatever contribution I may have been able to make as 
its chairman but ultimately enormous gratitude to the members of the 
committee and to the members of the staff.
  When Senator Dodd and I were appointed, respectively, as vice 
chairman and chairman of this group, we made the determination we would 
not have a partisan staff. While it was partisan in the formal sense 
that there was a minority director and so on, it was housed in the same 
facility; the members of the staff were majority or minority and worked 
together on a daily basis. We had a number of detailees from a variety 
of agencies who came to us and brought a level of professional 
expertise we could never have achieved in any other way. We maintained 
throughout the entire exercise a determination to get the job done that 
was not interfered with by any attempt at staff bickering or posturing 
for any partisan purposes.
  I pay tribute to Senator Dodd for his willingness to join me and, 
indeed, for his leadership in pushing me in that direction, and to the 
people whom he appointed as minority members of the staff. I also pay 
tribute to the administration and John Koskinen, who held the position 
on behalf of the President. There, also, there was no partisanship and 
no posturing for any partisan advantage.
  For the sake of the record, I want to read into the Record the names 
of the staffers who helped us with this accomplishment. They are: 
Robert Cresanti, staff director. Before being staff director, he worked 
with me on the Banking Committee to raise the initial alarm with 
respect to this possibility. T.M. Wilke Green, appointed by Senator 
Dodd as minority staff director; John B. Stephenson, who came from the 
GAO, the deputy staff director. Then we had Thomas Bello, professional 
staff; Tania Calhoun, committee counsel; James P. Dailey, professional 
staff; Paul Hunter, professional staff--these people were absolutely 
magnificent in the degree of expertise and professionalism they brought 
to us--Unice Lieberman, minority press secretary; Sara Jane MacKay, 
legislative correspondent; Don Meyer, press secretary; J. Paul 
Nicholas, professional staff; Frank Reilly, professional staff; Noelle 
Busk Ringel, our archivist. The clerk was Amber Sechrist, who came out 
of my office in a very professional and solid way. We also had Ronald 
Spear, professional staff, and Deborah Steward, GPO representative.
  To all of these men and women, I pay tribute and extend my warmest 
thanks and gratitude for the work they have done. Tomorrow, off the 
presses will come ``Y2K Aftermath--Crisis Averted, Final Committee 
Report.'' With the issuance of this report, the committee no longer 
exists. But as Secretary Hamre, Chairman Greenspan, and others have 
said, the benefits of the committee will live on over and above 
whatever benefits we had for averting the crisis.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Alaska.

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