SVB collapse: Senate GOP gets second briefing on bank failure after being ‘excluded’ from first
Emily Jacobs
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Senate Republicans received an additional briefing on the Silicon Valley Bank collapse Monday after the Treasury Department neglected to invite or inform a number of GOP lawmakers and staff of a hastily scheduled Sunday session.
Treasury officials briefing lawmakers during the Sunday night session admitted on the call that their invitations did not get out to every lawmaker, an aide to Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC) told the Washington Examiner on Monday. Scott, who serves as the top Republican on the Senate Banking Committee, was one of the many GOP lawmakers who did not receive an invite. GOP Banking Committee staffers were also not told of the Sunday briefing.
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“It is unacceptable that Senate Republicans were excluded from Treasury’s briefing to Congress this evening,” Senate Banking Republicans tweeted from their minority party account after missing out on the first call. “The lack of transparency & responsiveness from the Biden administration has been galling. The administration has the responsibility to keep ALL members updated in real time.”
Sen. John Kennedy (R-LA), who serves with Scott on the panel, was one of the other Republicans not told of the call beforehand, Fox News reported Monday. His representatives did not respond to an inquiry from the Washington Examiner on the matter.
Sen. Katie Britt (R-AL), another Senate Banking Republican, lambasted the Biden administration in a statement to Fox News after the Sunday mishap, telling the network, “The public deserves full transparency and accountability without regards to partisanship, and it is unacceptable that this administration excluded Senate Republicans, including those on the Senate Banking Committee, from Sunday night’s bicameral member briefing.”
A number of Republicans were present on the call, however, including Reps. Thomas Massie (R-KY) and Marc Molinaro (R-NY) and Sen. Mitt Romney (R-UT).
The Scott aide said the Treasury Department agreed to another briefing at noon on Monday in an effort to reach those who were missed.
The Treasury Department did not respond to the Washington Examiner’s request for comment, though an agency official rejected the accusation that Republicans were purposely excluded to Fox News on Monday, noting that invitations for the call had been sent to GOP leadership in the House and Senate.
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Officials on both calls briefed lawmakers on the federal regulatory efforts taking place to prevent the Silicon Valley Bank collapse from tanking other financial institutions. Banking regulators shut down SVB on Friday, two days after the nation’s 16th-largest federally insured bank announced that it needed to raise more than $2.2 billion to remain solvent, which sent its stock price plunging over 60% in 48 hours.
On Sunday evening, they also announced the closure of Signature Bank while revealing plans to make customers of both financial institutions whole. The SVB failure is the second-largest in U.S. banking history, while Signature Bank is the third.