Rubin says Treasury needs $453 million for Y2K fix
The Treasury Department will need nearly half a billion dollars in the remaining two years of the century to meet the deadline to have its computers be Year 2000compliant, Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin told House appropriators March 4.
With less than two years to go, the Treasury Department will need nearly half a billion dollars to meet the deadline to have its computers be Year 2000-compliant, Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin told House appropriators March 4.
Testifying before the House Appropriations Committee's Subcommittee on Treasury, Postal Service and General Government, Rubin said the Treasury needs $200 million in the fiscal 1998 Supplemental Budget Request and another $253 million for fiscal 1999 to ensure that its computer systems will be able to properly process dates after 1999. "We have identified close to $200 million in additional needs in the current year that must be funded if we are to complete the fixes in time," Rubin said.
In the supplemental request for fiscal 1998, the Clinton administration included language that allows Congress to provide up to $250 million to fund these requirements.
Rubin also explained that his agency will heighten its focus on fixing its mission-critical systems for Year 2000 compliance. "So that we can meet this challenge in time, Treasury is focusing on only those systems most critical to its mission," he said. "The challenge is enormous, but we have made significant progress thus far, and continue to be on schedule for almost all our mission-critical systems."