Small Businesses Finally Received Government-Backed Loans. Now They’re Afraid to Spend Them.

A fund Congress created to help rescue small businesses initially struggled to deliver relief to hurting firms. Now that it’s been replenished, the strict rules and confusing guidance surrounding the fund’s loans has stopped many recipient businesses from spending them, according to a new story from the New York Times.

For weeks, small businesses expressed outrage over the Paycheck Protection Program, which grants forgivable loans to businesses with fewer than 500 employees facing dire economic straits in a pandemic-induced depression. The initial $350 billion Congress set aside for the program—which...