Administration plans $30B in bailout aid for small firms

WASHINGTON — The Obama administration is setting aside $30 billion from the financial bailout fund for a program designed to encourage lending to small businesses to aid the economic recovery.

Internal documents spell out how the Treasury Department plans to spend money from the fund before it expires in October 2010. The documents show $40 billion would go to consumer and business lending programs.

Of that amount, $30 billion would support lending to small companies, according to a Treasury official who spoke on condition of anonymity because no final decisions on the program have been made. The administration said in October it would create an expanded business lending program but has had trouble finalizing the details.