Washington ? Soon after Sept. 11, President Bush promised New York City more than $20 billion in federal aid. A year later, only a fraction of that money has been spent.

Thousands of aid applications are sitting in government offices, while the cash flow has been slowed by red tape and a lack of consensus over how to rebuild the World Trade Center site.

Restrictive guidelines have prevented others from even qualifying for the money.

Garment workers in Chinatown say they have been neglected while large corporations have pocketed millions. Small businesses complain they have been overlooked. New Yorkers who applied for mortgage and rental assistance were initially turned away in large numbers.

“It’s an outrage,” said Duane Anzalone, whose family owned restaurant one block south of the World Trade Center went out of business after the attacks.

“I think the majority of the money that has been spent is getting to the wrong people,” he said.

While the largest charities have distributed 60 percent of the $2.4 billion in donations they have raised for Sept. 11, the federal government has handed out about 14 percent or roughly $3 billion of its $20.9 billion total.

One federal grant program administered by the state has 26,000 applications pending. Of the 35,000 loan application packets sent out by the Small Business Administration, there have been only about 5,000 recipients. A grant program for small businesses only began distributing funds in March.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency, which oversees $8.8 billion of New York’s Sept. 11 aid, has drawn the most fire for being tightfisted.

For the first time, the agency insisted that residents applying for mortgage and rental assistance prove their losses were a “direct result” of the attacks.

Another factor that has slowed the money is the cleanup at Ground Zero, which cost billions of dollars less than initially expected. FEMA has had to redirect that money.