November 22, 1999
Web posted at: 2:06 PM EST (1906 GMT)

Washington (CNN) -- Overall, the federal government earns a "B+" when it comes to Y2K preparedness, up from a failing "D" three and a half years ago, according to a new Congressional report.

The House Y2K Task Force has been issuing grades every few months during that period and the current grades are in its "final report card" before the date turnover on January first.

The report says 12 federal agencies received the highest mark of "A" -- that all of their mission-critical systems are fully ready for Y2K. But four agencies remained at the bottom of the list. The Departments of Defense, Health and Human Services, Treasury and Justice scored the worst -- with Justice earning a "D". All four of those agencies still have a few mission-critical systems to fix.

Rep. Stephen Horn (R-CA) said the lack of progress at the Justice Department was "the most troubling." He said he was also concerned about the Internal Revenue Service because the agency is still running an inventory of its computers at field locations-- the first step in assessing the Y2K problem.

Rep. Constance Morella (R-CA) also singled out federal programs that are not ready for the year 2000, among them programs that will affect women and children like food stamps, child nutrition programs, and Medicaid.

The Task Force also has concerns about air travel. "Nothing will fly that isn't totally safe," said Morella, but the air traffic control system is not ready for Y2K. That's mainly because U.S. air traffic control systems have to interact with international systems that may not be Y2K compliant.