Small Business Administrator Kelly Loeffler discusses the impact of the government shutdown on small business on ‘Kudlow.’
Small Business Administration Administrator Kelly Loeffler says Democrats are having a “disgraceful moment” as the government shutdown reaches what she calls liberals’ intended effect of hurting small businesses.
The federal government approached its fifth week of a shutdown after lawmakers failed to advance the continuing resolution a dozen times, according to a previous report. Disagreements over Obamacare remain at the forefront, as Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and other Democrats push to extend expiring Affordable Care Act premium subsidies, while Republicans say the issue should be addressed after the government reopens.
“Prior to this shutdown, as of September, small business confidence hit a seven-year-high, not since President Trump’s first term had small businesses felt so confident in the economy,” Loeffler told “Kudlow” on Monday. “That’s all thanks to President Trump’s economic agenda, which, by the way, is a supply-side agenda. … It’s free and fair trade. It’s low taxes. It’s deregulation. It’s access to capital.
“Because of their confidence, in 2025, the fiscal year we just wrapped up 27 days ago, the SBA broke through a 72-year lending record, surpassing $45 billion to 85,000 small businesses across this country,” she continued. “They were quite bullish heading into this shutdown, but look, this shutdown is having the intended effect by the Democrats. They want to hurt Main Street and that’s what they’re trying to do right now.”
REPUBLICANS, DEMOCRATS CLASH OVER EXPIRING OBAMACARE SUBSIDIES DURING ONGOING SHUTDOWN TALKS
U.S. Senate Minority Leader Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) (R) and House Minority Leader Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) (L) briefs members of the press during a news conference on the government shutdown at the U.S. Capitol on Oct. 16, 2025 in Washington, DC (Alex Wong/Getty Images / Getty Images)
Loeffler, who told FOX Business the shutdown has “real economic consequences,” criticized Democrats for trying to “inflict pain” on “Main Street.”
“It’s $15 billion a week,” she explained. “It’s shaving one to two tenths of a percent off GDP. It’s 43,000 jobs lost in a month, potentially, according to the CEA. And where do those expenses that lost $15 billion come from, the 43,000 jobs? From Main Street, from small businesses, who 20% say that they rely on federal government workers as their customers or federal agencies or federal contracting.”
Loeffler says she has agreed with DOGE since day one and revealed the agency has taken down its headcount by about 52%.
“We have done more with less, just like a small business would do, and we’re going to continue to look for efficiencies because just like any private sector company, you can see the headlines over the weekend, large companies having layoffs saying, ‘Actually, we do better with fewer employees. We created too much complexity. We need to ensure that we’re efficient,'” she said.
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President Trump delivers remarks from the White House. (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images / Getty Images)
Democrats want big government that “stifles small business” and “crowds out innovation,” Loeffler argued.
“It’s important that we continue on with the DOGE efforts and being accountable to taxpayers,” she explained. “That’s what I’m going to do at the end of the year. I’m going to show taxpayers how accountable we were in this agency with their hard-earned tax dollars.”
Fox News’ Alex Miller contributed to this report.
