Trump has picked former Sen. Kelly Loeffer (R-GA), a co-chair of Trump’s inauguration and a “top donor” who raised millions of dollars for his 2024 campaign, to lead the Small Business Administration (SBA), claiming she will crack down on “‘waste, fraud, and regulatory overreach.’”
Loeffler, Who Was Scrutinized For Suspicious Stock Trades While In Congress, Would Be In Charge Of Billions In SBA Loans And Assistance
Loeffler was one of the “wealthiest lawmakers” in her short time in the U.S. Senate from 2020 to 2021. She made millions working for the Intercontinental Exchange, which has owned the New York Stock Exchange since 2013, and she is married to Jeffrey Sprecher, Intercontinental Exchange’s CEO and chairman of the New York Stock Exchange.
Notably, the Loefflers faced controversy for suspicious stock trades they reportedly made ahead of 2020’s pandemic market downturn. Kelly Loeffler sold stock on the same day that she and other members of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee were briefed on the COVID-19 pandemic, which soon made markets plunge. After the Justice Department scrutinized Loeffler and other lawmakers for questionable trades, she divested all of her family’s individual stocks.
Despite this history of scrutiny of her financial activity, Loeffler, if confirmed, will be responsible for preventing fraud in billions of dollars in SBA loans and assistance. Notably, the pandemic-era aid program, the Paycheck Protection Program, was called the “‘biggest fraud in a generation’” due to widespread abuse of the program and lax oversight during the first Trump administration.
Loeffler Has Yet To Commit To Divesting From Small Business Interests Potentially Subject To SBA Oversight
Loeffler has yet to commit to divesting from her own small business interests, which both have ideological slants. Loeffler founded RallyRight, a “suite of technology products designed to empower conservatives,” and she is a board member of PublicSquare, a “payments ecosystem” that claims it “protects life, family, and freedom.” Notably, Donald Trump Jr. joined PublicSquare’s board in 2024.
Loeffler’s Industry Allies Could Be Given New Powers To Block Federal Rulemaking Via The SBA’s Office Of Advocacy
If confirmed, Loeffler may have expanded ability to let her business allies thwart federal rulemaking if Congress passes the Prove It Act, which would allow “small entities,” such as trade groups, to petition the SBA’s Office of Advocacy to require expansive and unnecessary analyses on rules issued by federal agencies. The bill was passed by the Republican-controlled House in the last Congress and may be advanced once again, this time with a Republican-controlled Senate.
The Prove It Act has been criticized as providing the nation’s largest corporations with a “powerful new cudgel to wield against regulations,” “causing further harm to the very small entities [the Small Business Administration] purports to help.”
During a Rules Committee hearing in December 2024, Rep. Hank Johnson (D-GA) slammed the legislation as a “Trojan horse” allowing “large trade associations to undermine, delay and roll back critical protections, protections that keep us safe and [keep] our costs low.”
