Small Businesses Get a Nearly $1-Billion Boost From U.S.

Nearly 2,000 loans worth $970 million have been approved for small-business owners across the nation, the Small Business Administration said Tuesday.

The loans had been held up for months as Congress bickered over the best way to stimulate the troubled small-business sector.

SBA officials scrambled to approve the loans just days after President Obama signed a bill allowing the agency to waive some fees to borrowers and to increase the federal guarantee that backs loans made through the SBA programs.

Source: SBA