WASHINGTON
(AP) — The
Treasury Department
is scrapping plans to hire a cartoonist to lighten the mood of its
employees who manage the nation's $1.2 trillion debt, after a senator
questioned its merits.
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The cartoonist would have been hired by Treasury's
Bureau of Public Debt, which accounts for borrowed federal
spending, at a time Congress is embroiled in a debate about increased
government spending.
"Our training staff felt that at a time when employees are working
extra hours, it might have been helpful," said Kim
Treat, a spokesman for the bureau.
But the effort was canceled because it had become "more of a
distraction than an opportunity," he said.
In
a federal solicitation issued earlier this month, the bureau said it
was looking for a contractor to conduct two, three-hour presentations
for its employees on the benefits of humor in the workplace and the
connection between humor and stress relief.
The contractor would have to be able to "create cartoons on the
spot" about jobs at the bureau, the solicitation stated.
Treat
said the solicitation was intended to collect more information,
including how much it would cost, and that no money had been allocated
toward the effort. The bureau's annual budget is $187 million.
"Of
all the agencies, the Bureau of Public Debt should know that there is
very little that is funny about today's economic conditions," Dorgan
said in a statement released Friday.
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