Anytime you redirect an agency's money you get their attention,'' says Sally Katzen, the OMB official in charge of the federal effort. The Year 2000 glitch comes from generations of computer hardware and code being written to recognize dates only in the 1900s. Eight are in good shape.
States face similar problems.
Several won't have critical systems updated in time. Replacing older computers and finding and rewriting flawed code is time consuming and expensive. Rep. Steve Horn, R-Calif., a critic of the handling of the issue, Thursday holds a press conference calling for the presidential appointment of a powerful authority to oversee the issue. He claims more than half of U.S. agencies won't be ready.