Congress created the Paycheck Protection Program as part of last month's $2 trillion economic relief package, intending it as a lifeline for small shops so they could keep paying workers even if they had no customers. The money, which ultimately grew to $660 billion, came with strings attached, requiring businesses to keep their workers on the payroll for eight weeks if they wanted the loans forgiven, but the eligibility requirements were vague.
Now, the Treasury Department is frantically trying to figure out how to recoup hundreds of millions of dollars from big companies that applied for loans and received them under the program's initial terms.