The U.S. government must add an influx of clerks to clear payments to dealers for the cash-for-clunkers program.

The Washington Times reports that, "the U.S. Transportation Department, billions of dollars behind in paying 'cash-for-clunkers' rebates, has hired private contractors and solicited volunteers from the Federal Aviation Administration and its own executive ranks to work overtime to clear the backlog."

Employees of the FAA's air-traffic-control unit were requested to assist, but the Transportation Department emphasized Friday that essential safety personnel were not diverted from their duties.

A total of 1,200 workers, which includes approximately 300 contractors from Citigroup, the financial services behemoth, are currently working seven days a week to review applications and reimburse auto dealers for rebates advanced to customers, officials revealed.

Last week, the department tripled its staff to 1,100 and recently added another 100 employees at headquarters.

According to the Washington Times, "on Thursday, Transportation Secretary Ray La Hood said the program would stop taking applications Monday at 8 p.m. to provide an 'orderly wind-down' and ease uncertainty when funds would run out."

The National Automobile Dealers Association that had endorsed the maneuver pleaded with the Obama administration late Friday to extend the deadline since the program's Web site was crashing.

The Dealers Association is quoted as saying that, "many dealers are working round-the-clock to submit their 'clunker' applications to meet the administration's deadline. Despite these efforts, computer issues may prevent some 'clunker' applications from being submitted in time, through no fault of the dealers."

From the beginning, the Car Allowance Rebate System, or CARS, proved to be immensely popular for its $1 billion budget and the hundreds of employees assigned to the program.

As reported by the Washington Times, "planners who expected to sell 250,000 cars in thre months are now deluged with nearly twice that many applications seeking more than $2 billion in rebates after less than one month. Only 7 percent of the rebates have been paid, leaving many auto dealers out millions of dollars. Dealers were supposed to be repaid within 10 days.

To read the entire article from the Washington Times, link here:

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