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.

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.