WASHINGTON (Reuter) - The Senate Thursday agreed unanimously
to pull the plug on computer games in government offices and bar
the government from buying any new computers with games already
loaded.
``The taxpayers don't need to be paying the salaries of
people who are playing games while on official time,'' said Sen.
Lauch Faircloth, sponsor of the amendment to the Treasury and
General Government spending bill.
``The removal of these games will save millions, if not
billions, in lost productivity,'' the North Carolina Republican
said.
Federal agencies would be required to remove games from all
computers.
Faircloth sponsored the bill after taking a tour of his Web
site on an office computer and he saw how easy it was to switch
from games to work areas on the computer, an aide said when the
bill was introduced.
``So that was the end of the games in our office,'' Peter
Hans, the senator's spokesman joked.
The Senate will continue debate on the spending bill next
week. The ban on computer games would become law only if it
survives a conference with the House on its version of the
Treasury spending bill and is signed into law by President
Clinton.