Panel: Slow start for Treasury fund

WASHINGTON — The Treasury Department and Federal Reserve have lent hardly any money under a $500 billion fund created by economic rescue law passed in response to the coronavirus crisis, a congressional oversight panel says in a new report.

The Treasury fund is being used to guarantee new, expansive Federal Reserve lending programs to companies, states and cities that could be leveraged to reach as much as $4.5 trillion.

So far only one of the new Fed programs has started operating, a lending fund likely to be tapped by large public companies, the report by the Congressional Oversight Commission said. The program was started May 11 with $37.5 billion from Treasury.