Bill Bennett: “I can report to the Senate that he and I heard testimony before our last appropriations subcommittee that the Senate…”

“I can report to the Senate that he and I heard testimony before our last appropriations subcommittee that the Senate will indeed be Y2K-compliant in the year 2000. The Sergeant at Arms, the Secretary of the Senate, and others, have focused on the priorities and are doing the things necessary to get us there. They are changing the computers in the Senate at the rate now of about a thousand a month. I was startled, as I think my friend, Senator Dorgan, may have been, to learn that there were close to 9,000 computers in the Senate; that is 90 for each Senator. I didn't think we needed that many. But there are. They are being made Y2K-compliant at the rate of about a thousand per month now. That will allow us the requisite amount of time to test the various fixes and see to it that we have it under control. The one disquieting note that came out of the hearing that I share with my colleagues was that they said, 'We will have the mission-critical systems Y2K compliant by January of 2000.' I said, 'What is your definition of a `nonmission-critical system?' ' They said, 'Well, the copier in your office may not work.'”