(Washington, D-C) U.S. Sens. Chuck Grassley and Joni Ernst backed nominees this week who were successfully confirmed by the Senate to serve in the Trump administration. The Iowa Capital Dispatch reports Grassley, chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee, spoke in support of Kash Patel’s appointment as director of the Federal Bureau of Investigations Wednesday as the body voted 51-49 to confirm President Donald Trump’s pick. Two Republicans, Sens. Susan Collins of Maine and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, voted against Patel, alongside all Democrats and independents.

Patel, a Justice Department prosecutor, made statements criticizing the FBI in his book “Government Gangsters: The Deep State, the Truth and the Battle for Our Democracy,” and said on the Shawn Ryan Show podcast in 2024 that he would “shut down the FBI Hoover Building on day one and reopen it the next day as a museum of the ‘deep state.’”

Grassley defended Patel in comments on the floor Wednesday, saying the root concern of critics “is a fear that he’ll act like Democrats did when Democrats were in power.” The Iowa Republican said the FBI was used as a political tool by Democrats to attack Trump and others, but he believed Patel would not do the same.

U.S. Sen. Chuck Grassley, left, meets with Kash Patel, who was confirmed Feb. 20, 2025 as the new FBI director. (Photo courtesy of Grassley’s office)

“We need to restore transparency, we need to restore oversight and we need to restore accountability at the FBI, particularly on that top floor of the Hoover Building,” Grassley said. “And it’s why those who benefit from the status quo have come so forcefully against him with a relentless smear campaign.  Mr. Patel is a reformer, and we need a reformer in the FBI. We need to restore the public trust and we need to return the FBI to its core mission, which is to keep people on our streets safe.”

The Senate also approved U.S. Sen. Kelly Loeffler as Small Business Administration (SBA) administrator in a 52-46 vote Wednesday. Ernst, chair of the Senate Small Business Committee, has been a major advocate for Loeffler during the appointment process. The two were colleagues when Loeffler was appointed to serve as senator for Georgia in 2020.

Ernst praised Loeffler in appointment hearings, saying her business experience as the former chief executive officer of Bakkt, a subsidary of the financial service provider Intercontinental Exchange, will help her in the SBA role. Loeffler’s husband, Jeffrey Sprecher, is the CEO of Bakkt.

Speaking on the floor Wednesday, Ernst said Loeffler was the “perfect person to increase transparency and accountability at the SBA” and help small businesses across the country.