By MEG KINNARD Associated Press
WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. Senate on Wednesday confirmed Kelly Loeffler, a Georgia businesswoman and former senator, to lead the Small Business Administration, returning a stalwart supporter of President Donald Trump to Washington.
At SBA, Loeffler will oversee the entity that describes itself as the only Cabinet-level federal agency “fully dedicated to small business” by providing “counseling, capital, and contracting expertise as the nation’s only go-to resource and voice for small businesses.” Typically, the agency — which was founded in 1953 — offers Economic Injury Disaster Loans to help meet working capital needs caused by a disaster, loans that can be used to pay fixed debts, payroll, accounts payable and other expenses that would have been met if not for the disaster.
The Senate confirmed Loeffler on a 52-46 vote.
Loeffler, who co-chaired Trump’s second inaugural committee, served briefly in the U.S. Senate in the final year of the president’s first term. Appointing her to the Senate to fill out the term of Johnny Isakson, Georgia GOP Gov. Brian Kemp touted Loeffler as a successor in the Republican’s moderate mold. But facing an immediate reelection campaign in 2020, Loeffler hewed closely to Trump to stave off challengers from her right flank, characterizing herself as “more conservative than Attila the Hun.”
She and fellow Republican incumbent David Perdue, another Trump ally, advanced to the January 2021 runoffs following a November election in which Biden narrowly beat Trump in Georgia. Trump infamously pressured Republican Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger to “find” enough votes to flip the results, then blasted Raffensperger and Kemp for not helping overturn the election.
Loeffler called for Raffensperger’s resignation after he certified Biden’s victory in the state.
With Loeffler, Perdue and Trump casting doubts on Georgia’s election system, and with Trump not on the January runoff ballot, GOP turnout dipped, resulting in Loeffler’s defeat to Raphael Warnock and Perdue’s loss to Jon Ossoff, one day before Trump supporters ransacked the U.S. Capitol in the Jan. 6 riots.
The Republican losses in Georgia gave Democrats control of the Senate by the slimmest of margins. Trump won Georgia in last year’s election, and Loeffler’s home state continues to be critical for the fortunes of both the president and his party nationally.
Since her loss to Warnock, Loeffler started a conservative voter registration organization and dove into GOP fundraising, becoming one of the top individual donors and bundlers to Trump’s 2024 comeback campaign.
Loeffler’s confirmation also adds another Cabinet member of significant wealth to the billionaire president’s second administration. Loeffler — a former WNBA owner and executive who during her brief stint on Capitol Hill was the Senate’s wealthiest member — is married to Jeffrey Sprecher, CEO of Intercontinental Exchange, the publicly traded firm that owns the New York Stock Exchange.