By Patrick Rucker
WASHINGTON, Jan 30 (Reuters) - A $700 billion financial rescue fund cannot draw talented workers because of poor pay and must borrow workers from other federal agencies, a U.S. government report stated on Friday, just as policymakers are considering whether to expand the aid effort.
The Troubled Asset Relief Program 'continues to face difficulty providing competitive salaries to attract skilled employees,' the non-partisan Government Accountability Office concludes of the four-month-old program.
Outside contractors and loaner employees from other government offices are doing much of the work behind the TARP program which was created to stabilize the banking sector, the report concludes, and many of those works may have conflicts.
'As we previously recommended, Treasury needs to continue to identify and mitigate conflicts of interest in contracting,' states the report.
The TARP was originally conceived to absorb Wall Street's bad investments but the program has chiefly been used to dole out money to the banking, insurance and auto industry.
As investor confidence in banks continues to sink, policy-makers are mulling how to deliver hundreds of billions in fresh aid.
The GAO, an independent investigative arm of Congress, credited the Treasury for quickly establishing a program to confront a global financial crisis but faulted some of its directionless efforts.
'While GAO does not question the need for swift responses in the current economic environment, the lack of a clearly articulated vision has complicated Treasury's ability to effectively communicate to Congress, the financial markets and the public,' the report states.
The report concludes that the effectiveness of TARP will not be knowN for months but repeatedly points to staffing and personnel problems.
The Treasury will borrow four employees each from the Securities and Exchange Commission, the Department of Housing and Urban Development and Office of Thrift Supervision, the report states. The TARP employed less than forty full-time, permanent staff by the end of January.
'Treasury still faces challenges in hiring the full complement of staff needed to administer the office,' the report states.
(Reporting by Patrick Rucker; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama) Keywords: FINANCIAL TARP/REPORT (patrick.rucker@thomsonreuters.com; Tel: +1-202-310-5474; Reuters Messaging: patrick.rucker.reuters.com@reuters.net) COPYRIGHT Copyright Thomson Reuters 2009. All rights reserved. The copying, republication or redistribution of Reuters News Content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Thomson Reuters.
WASHINGTON, Jan 30 (Reuters) - A $700 billion financial rescue fund cannot draw talented workers because of poor pay and must borrow workers from other federal agencies, a U.S. government report stated on Friday, just as policymakers are considering whether to expand the aid effort.
The Troubled Asset Relief Program 'continues to face difficulty providing competitive salaries to attract skilled employees,' the non-partisan Government Accountability Office concludes of the four-month-old program.
Outside contractors and loaner employees from other government offices are doing much of the work behind the TARP program which was created to stabilize the banking sector, the report concludes, and many of those works may have conflicts.
'As we previously recommended, Treasury needs to continue to identify and mitigate conflicts of interest in contracting,' states the report.
The TARP was originally conceived to absorb Wall Street's bad investments but the program has chiefly been used to dole out money to the banking, insurance and auto industry.
As investor confidence in banks continues to sink, policy-makers are mulling how to deliver hundreds of billions in fresh aid.
The GAO, an independent investigative arm of Congress, credited the Treasury for quickly establishing a program to confront a global financial crisis but faulted some of its directionless efforts.
'While GAO does not question the need for swift responses in the current economic environment, the lack of a clearly articulated vision has complicated Treasury's ability to effectively communicate to Congress, the financial markets and the public,' the report states.
The report concludes that the effectiveness of TARP will not be knowN for months but repeatedly points to staffing and personnel problems.
The Treasury will borrow four employees each from the Securities and Exchange Commission, the Department of Housing and Urban Development and Office of Thrift Supervision, the report states. The TARP employed less than forty full-time, permanent staff by the end of January.
'Treasury still faces challenges in hiring the full complement of staff needed to administer the office,' the report states.
(Reporting by Patrick Rucker; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama) Keywords: FINANCIAL TARP/REPORT (patrick.rucker@thomsonreuters.com; Tel: +1-202-310-5474; Reuters Messaging: patrick.rucker.reuters.com@reuters.net) COPYRIGHT Copyright Thomson Reuters 2009. All rights reserved. The copying, republication or redistribution of Reuters News Content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Thomson Reuters.