(Bloomberg) -- President-elect Donald Trump is expected to select Kelly Loeffler to run the US Department of Agriculture, according to CNN, enlisting a prominent ally and donor for a spot in his second-term administration.
Trump is expected to offer Loeffler the job soon, CNN reported on Friday, citing people familiar with the matter, who cautioned that the decision is not final until the president-elect announces it.
Loeffler, a former Georgia senator, and her husband, Intercontinental Exchange Inc. CEO Jeffrey Sprecher both helped raise money for Trump’s 2024 reelection bid.
Loeffler is also the founding CEO of digital-asset marketplace Bakkt Holdings Inc. The president-elect’s own Trump Media & Technology Group Corp. is in talks to buy Bakkt, according to people familiar with the discussions. Bakkt, which was spun out of Intercontinental Exchange, the parent of the New York Stock Exchange, has been exploring a potential sale for months.
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If confirmed by the US Senate, which will be in Republican hands in January, Loeffler’s role will go beyond just farm policy. The USDA also manages food stamps, school lunches and other nutrition programs, and it’s responsible for forest conservation, food inspections and rural development.
But Project 2025, the Heritage Foundation’s manifesto for conservative policy seen by many as a guidebook for the incoming administration, calls that mission “overly broad.”
That blueprint calls for reducing farm subsidies, slashing environmental regulations and cutting spending on nutrition programs, which would move to the Department of Health and Human Services. Trump has distanced himself from Heritage’s work, but hasn’t put forward a detailed agriculture policy of his own.
The next agriculture secretary will likely be swept up by the consequences of other Trump priorities. The threat of higher tariffs could prompt foreign nations to retaliate and divert or reduce farm exports, which Trump papered over in his last presidency by raiding billions in leftover funds from a crop insurance program. And Trump’s promise of mass deportations of undocumented migrants could deprive agribusinesses of a key source of labor.
The next secretary will also have to shepherd a long-stalled farm bill through Congress. The 2018 reauthorization was given a short-term extension after expiring last year, and a longer-term bill is unlikely to pass before the current Congress adjourns. Waiting until 2025 would give congressional Republicans more leverage.
Heading the department often goes to farm-state politicians — Iowa has produced the most agriculture secretaries, at six. And it’s a cabinet post that typically has some longevity: Former Iowa Governor Tom Vilsack served twice under Barack Obama and Joe Biden. Former Georgia Governor Sonny Perdue was one of only five members of Trump’s initial cabinet to serve until the final day of his presidency.
(Updates with additional details throughout)
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