The Senate confirmed Kelly Loeffler on Wednesday in a bipartisan vote to lead the Small Business Administration, bringing the total number of President Trump’s cabinet officials to 18.
The upper chamber voted 52-46 to approve Loeffler’s nomination, with Nevada Democratic Sen. Jacky Rosen joining 51 Republicans in support.
Forty-six Democrats opposed the nomination of the former U.S. senator from Georgia, while Republican Sens. Jerry Moran of Kansas and Dan Sullivan of Alaska did not vote.
“Loeffler will now lead the agency with a roughly $1 billion budget tasked with providing loans, grants and financial coaching to small-business owners nationwide,” the New York Post reported.
With an estimated net worth of around $1 billion, Loeffler had served as an executive at the financial services firm Intercontinental Exchange before being appointed to the U.S. Senate to complete the term of the late Sen. Johnny Isakson.
The former Georgia senator lost a runoff election to current Democratic Sen. Raphael Warnock in January 2021, despite fully embracing Trump and running campaign ads in Georgia that portrayed her as “more conservative than Attila the Hun.”
Her husband, Jeff Sprecher, serves as CEO of Intercontinental Exchange and is the chairman of the New York Stock Exchange.
During her confirmation hearing before the Senate Small Business Committee last month, Loeffler promised to assist Trump, 78, in ushering in a “golden era of prosperity and growth.” She outlined her goals of “ending inflation, cutting taxes, unleashing American energy dominance, slashing regulation, and reining in fraud, waste, and abuse across government.”
She also pledged to donate her more than $200,000 annual salary as SBA administrator to charity, just as she had with her $174,000 Senate salary between 2019 and 2021, The Post noted further.
“Sen. Loeffler is immensely qualified for this role,” said Small Business Committee Chairwoman Joni Ernst (R-Iowa) in a floor speech last Thursday.
“As a successful businesswoman, it is abundantly clear that Senator Loeffler truly understands what it takes to be an entrepreneur and will be an effective voice for small businesses across America.”
Loeffler also gave Ernst assurances that the SBA would be conducting “a full-scale audit” to “uncover any improper spending,” the Iowa Republican added, per The Post.
Still, the SBA head faced controversy in the past when she and her husband sold millions of dollars in stocks at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Loeffler was among several senators who sold shares after attending a Jan. 24 Senate Intelligence Committee briefing, including the panel’s chairman at the time, then-Sen. Richard Burr (R-NC).
In 1953, former President Dwight D. Eisenhower approved the legislation that created the SBA, which has since provided relief to business owners struggling from natural disasters. Loeffler’s appointment is seen as timely, given the devastation caused by wildfires in California and hurricanes on the East Coast.
“Small business is in Kelly Loeffler’s blood,” Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) noted in a Wednesday floor speech. “She grew up on her family’s fourth-generation farm in Illinois.
“In addition to the farm, her dad ran a small trucking company,” he continued. “And as a young woman, Kelly Loeffler worked in the soybean fields and waited tables at small restaurants in the heartland. And she was the first person in her family to graduate from college before embarking on a successful career in business herself,” he added.
Besides Loeffler, the Senate confirmed Kash Patel on Thursday as the country’s next FBI director. Previously, Republicans said they were happy that Trump’s choice “has the votes” and will be confirmed by the full Senate after clearing a key procedural vote.
