Swalwell Statement on Biden Administration’s Actions on Silicon Valley Bank

Washington D.C. – Today, U.S. Congressman Eric Swalwell (CA-14) issued the following statement:

"I welcome the news that under the leadership of the Biden Administration, the FDIC will be able to complete its resolution of Silicon Valley Bank in a way that fully protects all depositors and ensures that paychecks for working people will be processed. Silicon Valley Bank financed and banked thousands of tech and biotech startups in addition to countless small businesses in my district. Since this crisis happened, I have advocated to the Treasury, the Fed, and the FDIC that the priority has to be making payroll for American workers and not bailing out executives. Rightfully, today's guarantee for depositors is one that will not be borne by the taxpayer and will not be a bailout for the bank or its investors. Going forward, we must hold bank mismanagement accountable and investigate whether there was any shorting or manipulation of markets.

"As to the 'how could this happen' concern, it's clear that the efforts by former President Trump and Kevin McCarthy to pass the "Reform Act" in 2018 inoculated Silicon Valley Bank from stress tests and regulations that would have prevented this crisis. This is a lesson: the weakening of bank regulations for small and medium-sized banks allowed this mismanagement to go unchecked. We cannot trust the people and institutions who oversee so many Americans' paychecks to go unregulated. I look forward to working with my colleagues to strengthen Dodd-Frank Act protections in the banking industry."

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