{"id":27361,"date":"2025-12-20T08:19:13","date_gmt":"2025-12-20T08:19:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cndailynews.store\/?p=27361"},"modified":"2025-12-20T08:19:13","modified_gmt":"2025-12-20T08:19:13","slug":"senate-confirms-former-sen-loeffler-to-head-up-small-business-administration-8","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cndailynews.store\/?p=27361","title":{"rendered":"Senate Confirms Former Sen. Loeffler to Head Up Small Business Administration"},"content":{"rendered":"

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The Senate confirmed Kelly Loeffler on Wednesday in a bipartisan vote to lead the Small Business Administration, bringing the total number of President Trump\u2019s cabinet officials to 18.<\/p>\n

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The upper chamber voted 52-46 to approve Loeffler\u2019s nomination, with Nevada Democratic Sen. Jacky Rosen joining 51 Republicans in support.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

\u201cLoeffler will now lead the agency with a roughly $1 billion budget tasked with providing loans, grants and financial coaching to small-business owners nationwide,\u201d the New York Post\u00a0reported<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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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.<\/p>\n

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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 \u201cmore conservative than Attila the Hun.\u201d<\/p>\n

Her husband, Jeff Sprecher, serves as CEO of Intercontinental Exchange and is the chairman of the New York Stock Exchange.<\/p>\n

During her confirmation hearing before the Senate Small Business Committee last month, Loeffler promised to assist Trump, 78, in ushering in a \u201cgolden era of prosperity and growth.\u201d She outlined her goals of \u201cending inflation, cutting taxes, unleashing American energy dominance, slashing regulation, and reining in fraud, waste, and abuse across government.\u201d<\/p>\n

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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.<\/p>\n

\u201cSen. Loeffler is immensely qualified for this role,\u201d said Small Business Committee Chairwoman Joni Ernst (R-Iowa) in a floor speech last Thursday.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs 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.\u201d<\/p>\n

Loeffler also gave Ernst assurances that the SBA would be conducting \u201ca full-scale audit\u201d to \u201cuncover any improper spending,\u201d the Iowa Republican added, per The Post.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

Loeffler was among several senators who sold shares after attending a Jan. 24 Senate Intelligence Committee briefing, including the panel\u2019s chairman at the time, then-Sen. Richard Burr (R-NC).<\/p>\n

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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\u2019s appointment is seen as timely, given the devastation caused by wildfires in California and hurricanes on the East Coast.<\/p>\n

\u201cSmall business is in Kelly Loeffler\u2019s blood,\u201d Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) noted in a Wednesday floor speech. \u201cShe grew up on her family\u2019s fourth-generation farm in Illinois.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn addition to the farm, her dad ran a small trucking company,\u201d he continued. \u201cAnd 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,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

Besides Loeffler, the Senate confirmed Kash Patel on Thursday as the country\u2019s next FBI director. Previously, Republicans said they were happy that Trump\u2019s choice \u201chas the votes\u201d and will be confirmed by the full Senate after clearing a key procedural vote.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u00a0Getty Images This article may contain commentary which reflects the author\u2019s opinion. The Senate confirmed Kelly Loeffler on Wednesday in a bipartisan vote to lead the Small Business Administration, bringing … <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":27362,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-27361","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cndailynews.store\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27361","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cndailynews.store\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cndailynews.store\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cndailynews.store\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cndailynews.store\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=27361"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cndailynews.store\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27361\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":27363,"href":"https:\/\/cndailynews.store\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27361\/revisions\/27363"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cndailynews.store\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/27362"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cndailynews.store\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=27361"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cndailynews.store\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=27361"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cndailynews.store\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=27361"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}