Federal Reserve To Boost Small Business Efforts

WASHINGTON (AP) – The Federal Reserve says it will support the government’s $349 billion small business lending program, which had a rocky start Friday. The Fed said Monday that it will purchase loans that banks make to small businesses as part of the program. The lending facility, carried out by banks and the Small Business Administration, was set up under the $2.2 trillion economic relief package. The loans can be forgiven if they are spent on payroll, to encourage firms to keep paying their employees or rehire workers they may have recently laid off.