[Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: William J. Clinton (1998, Book II)]
[December 28, 1998]
[Pages 2212-2214]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]



Remarks Announcing Social Security System Compliance With Year 2000 
Computer Problem Safeguards
December 28, 1998

    Good morning. Let me say, one of the things that she might have told 
you is that before she volunteered for the National Council of Senior 
Citizens for 20 years, she was an employee until 1972, when she retired, 
of the Bureau of Engraving and Printing. Therefore, she worked for the 
Treasury Department. And on New Year's Eve, she will be 90 years old. 
[Applause] So we thank her.

Situation in Iraq

    Ladies and gentlemen, before I get into my remarks, because this is 
the only opportunity I will have to appear before the press today, I 
think I should say a few words about an incident early this morning over 
the skies of Iraq, where American and British aircrews were enforcing a 
no-fly zone in northern Iraq. They were fired on by Iraq's surface-to-
air missiles. They took evasive action, returned fire on the missile 
site, and returned safely to their base in Turkey.
    We enforce two no-fly zones in Iraq: one in the north, established 
in 1991; another in the south, established in 1992, which now stretches 
from the southern suburbs of Baghdad down to the Kuwaiti border. The no-
fly zones have been and will remain an important part of our containment 
policy. Because we effectively control the skies over much of Iraq, 
Saddam has been unable to use air power to repress his own people or to 
lash out again at his neighbors. Our pilots have the authority to 
protect themselves if they're threatened or attacked. They took 
appropriate action today in responding to Iraq's actions.
    Once again, I want to tell you I am very proud of the work they do, 
the risks they take, the skill and the professionalism with which they 
do it. They attacked because they were attacked, and they did the 
appropriate thing. We will continue to enforce the no-fly zones.

Social Security and Year 2000 Computer Problem

    Now, let me say, this is a very happy announcement today. And I want 
to thank Secretary Rubin, who most people associate with saving the 
economy, not saving Social Security, but that's an important part of his 
job, too. I want to thank Kathy Adams, who is one of those people in the 
Government that makes it go and never gets enough credit for it. So I'm 
delighted to see her up here and, through her, all the other people who 
work every day to make America work.
    I've already told you about Pauline Johnson Jones. And I want to 
say, too, I have been very moved by how passionate Ken Apfel has been 
about making sure that this problem got solved. And today we saw that he 
has a vested interest in it: He doesn't want his father to

[[Page 2213]]

cut him out of his will--[laughter]--and everybody always needs to be in 
better stead with their in-laws. [Laughter]
    You know, this Y2K problem is a stunning problem--oh, one other 
thing: I want to acknowledge the presence here in the audience of the 
Member of Congress from Guam, Congressman Robert Underwood, his wife, 
and his five children. They're here; we're delighted to see all of them. 
We're delighted that they're here with us in this cold weather, instead 
of on warm and sunny Guam today.
    We just heard that the new millennium is only 368 days away. And we 
want it to be a carefree celebration. The reason we're here today is to 
announce that on New Year's Day 2000, and on every day that follows, 
people like Pauline can rest easy because the millennium bug will not 
delay the payment of Social Security checks by a single day.
    The Social Security system is now 100 percent compliant with our 
standards and safeguards for the year 2000. To make absolutely certain, 
the system has been tested and validated by a panel of independent 
experts. The system works; it is secure. And therefore, older Americans 
can feel more secure.
    I thank all those who are responsible. This is a good day for 
America. Thank you very much.
    The Social Security Administration and the Financial Management 
Service can be proud. The Social Security agency was the very first one 
to start work on the Y2K problem; it's been a leader and a model ever 
since. They couldn't have done it, these two agencies, if they hadn't 
worked as a team. Social Security generates the Social Security 
payments; the Financial Management Service issues those payments. They 
are in this together.
    Indeed, we're all in this together. This involves not just Federal 
agencies but everyone who depends upon a computer, which is everyone, 
directly or indirectly. Federal and State governments and local 
governments, businesses large and small, the year 2000 problem reveals 
the connections between all of us.
    We also, I want to point out, have been working very hard with other 
countries. Sally Katzen just told me that there was a meeting at the 
United Nations recently where we met with representatives of 120 other 
countries who are all now working together to solve this, because as all 
of you know, a lot of our economy is tied up with economic endeavors 
throughout the world, so even a problem a long way from our shores can 
have ramifications within our borders. And of course, we don't want any 
of our friends and neighbors hurt by this change either.
    People are meeting this challenge, but I think a lot of people can 
still hardly imagine what caused this. I mean, computers, after all, are 
supposed to save us time, right? And I was describing this Y2K problem 
to Hillary, and she got so technophobic that I gave her a little digital 
alarm clock for Christmas, and she gave it back to me after I talked to 
her about it. And she said, ``Why don't you just go get me one that 
winds up, that I can change in my hand?'' [Laughter]
    It happened, you know, because in the older computers the memory put 
on the chip was precious and much more limited than the phenomenal 
capacity of computer chips today, so that, in effect, they were all 
programmed, these older computers, just to change the last two digits on 
the four numbers of any date. And so what would happen is, when you get 
to the year 2000, it would show 1900 instead of 2000, because there is 
no provision for the 19 to go to 20, because of the limitations of 
memory in the older computer chips.
    The problem is, obviously, that a lot of new computers are also 
interconnected with older computers, and a lot of people can't even be 
sure what chips are in what computers and what links are there. That's 
what makes this labor-saving device of the computer present the most 
labor-intensive problem imaginable. Retired people have had to come 
back--people with skills in working with the old computers have had to 
come back to help all kinds of businesses figure out how to unravel this 
problem. It sounds so simple, but it is so mammoth because you have to 
identify what computers and what chips are where and what the 
interconnections are.
    And so it's an enormous, enormous effort. And we really, all of us, 
are so indebted to these people who have been recognized today with 
these two agencies, and to others all across the country who are working 
on this problem in the public and in the private sectors.
    I say again, the American people don't know who--or didn't before 
today--know who Kathy Adams was. They don't know any of the people who 
are working with her. But when they get the checks for the first Social 
Security payment

[[Page 2214]]

in the new millennium, it will be because of them. And I would just ask 
the American people today to be very sensitive, because there are people 
like Kathy Adams working in all these agencies, in State and local 
government and all these businesses throughout the country, and they 
need to be encouraged. And those who have not yet undertaken this task 
need to get on it and get on it now, because we just have a little more 
than a year to get the job done.
    Now, we have made sure that Social Security checks will keep coming 
in the year 2000. I'd also like to say that after we've got the computer 
problem behind us, we have to continue to focus on the larger issue, the 
policy issue, which is to make sure that the Social Security checks keep 
coming throughout the 21st century. All of you know that at present 
rates of contribution and payment, present rates of retirement, present 
rates of aging and birth and immigration, we estimate that the Social 
Security Trust Fund will be exhausted in about 34 years. We have 
typically tried to keep the life of the Trust Fund at about 75 years to 
make sure it was absolutely stable. Thirty-four years seems like a long 
time away; I suppose the younger you are, the further away it seems. It 
doesn't seem so far to me now, because things that happened 34 years ago 
are implanted in my mind as if they occurred only yesterday.
    But we are going to face early next year a great challenge of 
fashioning a bipartisan solution to save Social Security for the 21st 
century. I tell everybody it is a formidable problem, but it will only 
get worse if we delay it. And it is a high-class problem; we have this 
problem because we're living longer. The average life expectancy of the 
American people, as reported just a few weeks ago, exceeds 76 years. And 
that is a high-class problem. We should be grateful for this problem. 
When Social Security was established and there was no early retirement 
at 62 and you couldn't draw until 65, the average male life expectancy 
in America was 56--in the 1930's. So we've gone from 56 to over 76, and 
of course, for women, it's a couple of years higher. And as Pauline 
says, women are especially dependent on Social Security, for reasons 
that I think would be obvious to anyone, and therefore have a 
particularly large stake in our resolving this problem in a prompt and 
appropriate way.
    Now, in the last year--in this year, 1998--I have gone around the 
country and held these bipartisan forums. Members of Congress in both 
Houses and both parties have taken a special interest and have been very 
good to attend these forums. Just a few days ago, we had a 2-day first 
White House Conference on Social Security. The second day, I went over 
to Blair House and met with nearly 50 Members of Congress, in both 
parties and both Houses. It was an astonishing outpouring of genuine 
interest.
    Now, I don't want to minimize the problems--and they're different 
from the Y2K problem. The Y2K problem, you know what to do to fix it 
once you identify it. Here we've identified it, and there are obvious 
differences about what should be done to fix Social Security for the 
21st century. But we all know that there are basically only three 
options: We can raise taxes again, which no one wants to do because the 
payroll tax is regressive. Over half the American people who are working 
pay more payroll tax than income tax today. We can cut benefits, and it 
might be all right for someone like me who has a good retirement plan, 
but it's not a very good idea for someone like Pauline. Or we can work 
together to try to find some way to increase the rate of return. And 
there are a number of options that we are discussing.
    The point I want to make to all of you is that we have the same 
obligation to fix the system in policy terms for the 21st century that 
these fine people we honor today have discharged in fixing the Y2K 
problem. And if we approach it with the same can-do attitude and the 
same determination to reach a result, we can achieve that.
    So today we celebrate, and I hope the celebration that we have today 
will steel our determination to make sure that people like Pauline can 
be making this speech 50 years from now.
    Thank you very much, and Happy New Year.

Note: The President spoke at 10:35 a.m. in Room 450 of the Old Executive 
Office Building. In his remarks, he referred to Social Security 
recipient Pauline Johnson Jones, who introduced the President; President 
Saddam Hussein of Iraq; Kathleen M. Adams, Assistant Deputy Commissioner 
for Systems, Social Security Administration; and Delegate Robert A. 
Underwood of Guam and his wife, Lorraine.