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)
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.
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.
Collins said in a statement ahead of the vote that the person appointed to serve 10 years in the position should be “apolitical,” and not opposed to the FBI as an agency
“Mr. Patel has made numerous politically charged statements in his book and elsewhere discrediting the work of the FBI, the very institution he has been nominated to lead,” Collins said.
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.
“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.
“Over the course of her career, Sen. Loeffler has shown how hard work, grit, and Midwestern common sense can take you from Illinois’ soybean fields to CEO of your own company, and now, to lead a government agency,” Ernst said. “I am confident that Sen. Loeffler will ensure SBA once again works for all small businesses, and usher in a golden age for America’s small businesses.”
Iowa lawmakers call for USDA action on bird flu
Ernst and Grassley, alongside U.S. Rep. Randy Feenstra, also signed onto a letter to the U.S. Department of Agriculture asking for to U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins to support measures to address the highly pathogenic avian influenza outbreak impacting dairy and poultry farmers.
The letter, sent to Rollins Tuesday, urged the USDA to adopt strategies to stop the spread of the disease, including an expansion of vaccination for laying hens and turkeys, movement controls for animals that present risks of infection and collaboration with researchers and industry professionals to develop new ways to prevent, detect and respond to the disease.
“The United States is now entering the fourth year of an outbreak of HPAI that has devastated farms, required the depopulation of more than 136 million birds on commercial poultry operations, and infected a small but growing number of farm workers,” the letter stated. “A new urgency is required from the USDA to address the evolving situation.”
Feenstra said in a statement that addressing bird flu is a “top priority,” as Iowa’s 4th District is one of the top egg-producing districts in the country.
“We must also look towards an aggressive strategy to protect our flocks from disease, establish a Strategic Initiative to combat the spread of bird flu, and make indemnity payment rates fairer for our producers,” Feenstra said. “I look forward to working with the Trump administration and Secretary Rollins to promote biosecurity on our farms, lower the price of eggs, and support our farmers and producers throughout this process.”
Leaders in Iowa’s animal agriculture industry spoke in support of the lawmakers’ effort, saying that action was needed to help Iowa farmers impacted by H5N1 bird flu. Dr. Craig Rowles, president of the North Central Poultry Association and Bruce Dooyema, president of the Iowa Egg Council, thanked Ernst in a joint statement for working with the USDA to help protect farmers and the food supply chain during the outbreak.
“Poultry and egg farmers across Iowa are working diligently to navigate the challenges posed by highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI), but they can’t face this growing problem alone,” Rowles and Dooyema said in a statement. “We applaud Senator Ernst for her continued leadership in ensuring producers have the tools they need to slow the spread of HPAI.”