Progressive lawmakers are blaming the collapse of two U.S. banks over the weekend on a 2018 bill that rolled back regulations put in place after the 2008 financial crisis.
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"No one should be mistaken about what unfolded over the past few days in the U.S. banking system: These recent bank failures are the direct result of leaders in Washington weakening the financial rules," Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) wrote in a
New York Times op-ed published Monday. Warren pointed out how SVB was one of multiple banks that lobbied Congress and
then-President Donald Trump to weaken the Dodd-Frank Act, which established banking rules to prevent another financial meltdown. The regulations were pared back with the support of both parties in 2018. "Had Congress and the Federal Reserve not rolled back the stricter oversight, SVB and Signature would have been subject to stronger liquidity and capital requirements to withstand financial shocks. They would have been required to conduct regular stress tests to expose their vulnerabilities and shore up their businesses," she wrote. "But because those requirements were repealed, when an old-fashioned bank run hit S.V.B., the bank couldn’t withstand the pressure — and Signature’s collapse was close behind." Sen.
Bernie Sanders (I-VT) also blamed the
Trump-era law for the collapse of SVB, saying in a Sunday statement: "Let’s be clear. The failure of Silicon Valley Bank is a direct result of an absurd 2018 bank deregulation bill signed by Donald Trump that I strongly opposed."