The Senate voted Tuesday to confirm the nomination of President Donald Trump’s pick to lead the Small Business Administration (SBA).
Kelly Loeffler, a prominent business executive and philanthropist who served as a senator from Georgia for two years, will now lead the agency. She unveiled plans during her confirmation hearing to reduce regulatory burdens on small business owners, and enhance access to SBA-backed loans and grants.
The agency aims to provide small business owners with counseling, capital and contracting expertise to advance their businesses.
Loeffler appeared before the Senate Small Business and Entrepreneurship Committee Jan. 28 to outline her vision and promised that Trump’s policies would "restore the small business economy" that would lead to a "golden era of prosperity and growth."
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"That’s exactly what the America First agenda does — by ending inflation, cutting taxes, unleashing American energy dominance, slashing regulation, and reining in fraud, waste, and abuse across government," Loeffler said in her opening remarks.
Loeffler and her husband, Jeff, created a Fortune 500 financial services and technology company together, and she has told lawmakers she intends to donate her annual $207,500 salary as SBA administrator to charity.
Loeffler, whose net worth is estimated at roughly $1 billion, previously donated her annual Senate salary of $174,000 between 2019 and 2021 to more than 40 Georgia charities and nonprofits.
Those organizations included food banks, faith groups and organizations opposed to abortion, foster care/adoption groups as well as organizations promoting health care, agriculture, education, law enforcement and disaster relief.
The Senate voted Thursday by a 51–43 margin to advance Loeffler’s nomination for the final confirmation vote.
Chair of the Senate Small Business and Entrepreneurship Committee Sen. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, backed Loeffler’s nomination, citing Loeffler’s "zero-tolerance policy for waste, fraud and abuse" within the agency.
Additionally, Ernst voiced support for Loeffler’s plans to conduct a full-scale audit of the SBA to weed out any wasteful spending.
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"Senator Loeffler is immensely qualified for this role," Ernst said on the Senate floor 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."
However, ranking member of the Senate Small Business and Entrepreneurship Committee Sen. Ed Markey, D-Mass, pushed back on Loeffler’s nomination amid concern that her confirmation would pave the way for the newly created Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) to "illegally cut off funding" for small business owners. As a result, he said that Trump is looking to fill his cabinet with those that will follow his "illegal bidding."
Markey and Loeffler also sparred during her confirmation hearing in January after the Trump administration announced Jan. 27 that it would freeze federal funds and grants that aimed to eradicate "wokeness" and the "weaponization of government."
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While the White House rescinded the memo on Jan. 29, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said the federal funding freeze remained in effect.
As a result, Markey pressed Loeffler on whether she believed the move was lawful or not, following backlash from members of Congress that the Trump administration attempted to illegally circumvent Congress and withhold funds.
"I fully agree with President Trump’s decision to stop wasteful spending," Loeffler told Markey. "It resulted in a landslide victory that many Americans were waiting for relief against excessive government spending."
