The Federal decision to bail out Silicon Valley Bank has drawn ire from House Republicans. Representative Greg Steube (R-FL) appeared on Fox's Mornings with Maria, saying, "Congress should NOT bail out banks and Wall Street for making bad decisions."
"Congress should NOT bail out banks and Wall Street for making bad decisions. Especially after Biden’s Treasury Secretary raked in $7 million in speaking fees over the past few years from the very financial firms who could benefit from something like that," Rep. Steube added.
Congress should NOT bail out banks and Wall Street for making bad decisions.
Especially after Biden’s Treasury Secretary raked in $7 million in speaking fees over the past few years from the very financial firms who could benefit from something like that. pic.twitter.com/xVBUEvGAmM
— Congressman Greg Steube (@RepGregSteube) March 22, 2023
Host Maria Bartiromo notes that Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen recently spoke of temporarily covering uninsured deposits, which may incentivize banks into making risky investments, leading to more bank crackups.
Rep. Steube agreed with Bartiromo, "that's certainly not what I support."
"That's certainly not what I support. I don't think that's what Mr. [Patrick] McHenry, the chair of the Financial Services Committee supports, I know Republicans don't support that, Speaker [Kevin] McCarthy doesn't support that. There's a lot of support in the Caucus to NOT increase bank bailouts or offer bank bailouts," said Rep. Steube.
Additionally, he suggested this is not a matter of regulation in and of itself, but rather "the regulators themselves weren't doing their jobs for whatever reason."
As such, Steube is "glad" McHenry is demanding these regulators testify on what happened, adding that "the last thing the American people think they need to be doing is bailing out banks and Wall Street for making bad decisions."
Bartiromo points out that even President Franklin Roosevelt advised against the government insuring bank deposits for the exact reason mentioned of banks using the money to take unnecessary risks, the Biden Administration is going forward with it anyway.
In response, Steube said he and the Caucus reiterated their refusal to support bank bailouts in Orlando, observing that Secretary Yellen became wealthy from these very same banks she may bailout, evidence that "the level of corruption in Washington is beyond the pale."
"What I find very interesting is Yellen herself got millions of dollars, $7 million in speaking fees before she's where she's at now, from some of the banks that she's going to decide to bailout. The level of corruption in Washington is beyond the pale," he concludes.
