ALEIGH, N.C. - Democratic presidential candidate Al Gore proposed yesterday putting all federal agencies online to create an ''e-government,'' which would link the American people to US services and data via the Internet.
Gore said he wants people to get online and use technology to establish a government that works better, costs less, and is more relevant.
''Together we will transform America's collection of ramshackle bureaucracies into an e-government that works for you,'' the vice president said in a campaign speech at North Carolina State University's Centennial Campus.
Gore proposed that all federal agencies be required to put their services online by 2003. He wants people to be able to instantly obtain a mass of federal data - ranging from the purity of drinking water to the quality of a nursing home, to the amount of a pending Social Security check.
Using the Internet, they could also apply for federal aid - from a college grant to a business loan - or bid on government work.
As a member of Congress, Gore was a leading proponent of research that helped lead to the Internet. Yet the vice president opened himself to ridicule last year when he seemed to claim that he helped invent the Internet. He later admitted he misspoke.
Aides said it would cost an estimated $100 million to get all federal agencies online, but the move would save several times that in reduced costs as the result of increased efficiencies and less paperwork. In recent years, some agencies have begun to put some of their data for public consumption on the Internet, and the Internal Revenue Service allows electronic filing.
