STORY:
Senators Predict Year 2000 Disruptions

Americans can expect some power brownouts and should worry about their medical records, but disruptions from the Year 2000 computer glitch probably are manageable, two senators investigating the problem say.

According to a report from the Associated Press, the two senators, Robert Bennett, R-Utah and Orrin Hatch, R-Utah made the statements as a prelude to a big report expected by a senate committee overseeing the Y2K problem.

``We will probably not have meltdown. This will not be the end of the world as we know it, the way some Web sites are predicting,'' Bennett said.

According to the AP, a draft version of the report concludes that aviation airways will be safe, nuclear weapons will stay in their silos and most power grids will work. But the lawmakers also pointed to major problems in foreign countries, notably Russia. In the United States, they said, there could be minor disruptions in food and energy supplies, health care and financial services.

The Senate is also hearing legislation that would limit punitive damage and take other steps to ward off what some could be up to $1 trillion in lawsuits resulting from Y2K-related disruptions.

The administration voiced concern about limiting the legal rights of consumers to sue for damages, but Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, sponsor of the bill with Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., said it was needed to avoid ``a rash of litigation that will inevitably shift scarce resources from fixing the Y2K problem to defending lawsuits, many of which will be frivolous.''

Source: Associated Press

DATE: 3/02/99

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