[Congressional Record Volume 169, Number 57 (Wednesday, March 29, 2023)]
[House]
[Page H1538]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]





                 WALL STREET PUSHES BACK ON REGULATIONS

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentlewoman from 
California (Ms. Porter) for 5 minutes.
  Ms. PORTER. Madam Speaker, back in 2017, I took a public stand 
against Wall Street and its efforts to roll back the financial 
regulations put in place after the 2008 financial crisis. I opposed S. 
2155, a deregulatory bill that ultimately passed into law.
  Then, in 2017 and 2018, I was running for Congress for the first time 
in a politically divided district. Standing against Wall Street wasn't 
a safe position to take. In fact, that is why too many Republican and 
Democratic lawmakers alike ended up supporting S. 2155. It was seen as 
safer to be pro-business.
  Every real capitalist knows there is nothing pro-business about a 
bank failure. That is why, in 2010, Congress passed strong regulations 
to keep our economy stable, our banks viable, and our businesses 
growing. Just 8 years later, in 2018, Washington, D.C., reversed course 
and passed S. 2155 at Wall Street's behest.
  How did we get from this deregulation to the recent Silicon Valley 
Bank failure, the biggest bank failure in over a decade?
  In short, S. 2155 made it lawful for Silicon Valley Bank to leave 
itself vulnerable when depositors wanted their money back faster than 
the bank could pay it out.
  When you walk into a bank, Madam Speaker, and you deposit $100, the 
bank takes most of that $100 and invests it. They buy securities and 
bonds. They don't just have your $100 sitting around. However, the bank 
is supposed to hang on to a big enough portion of that deposit so that 
if you want your money back, they can give it to you. It is 
straightforward when a couple of people come in and want their money, 
but sometimes a lot of people want all of their money all at once.
  Why wasn't Silicon Valley Bank prepared for that scenario?
  The bank's recent failure is a deregulation problem. Title IV of S. 
2155 raised the asset threshold at which a bank is considered and 
regulated as a systemically important bank. What we saw in Silicon 
Valley Bank and other similarly sized banks is a result of Congress' 
own actions in 2018 when they were removed from these enhanced 
liquidity requirement stress testing and other safety and soundness 
rules.
  Because of these lax regulations, when push came to shove, Silicon 
Valley Bank hadn't kept enough liquid assets to pay out the dollars 
being drawn out. If Dodd-Frank were still applied to banks of that 
size, then Silicon Valley Bank wouldn't have been able to put its own 
profits over the stability of our banking system and our economy.

  Let's not give banks that choice again. When Silicon Valley Bank 
collapsed, Senator Elizabeth Warren and I partnered on legislation to 
restore the regulations that were directly implemented as a result of 
lessons learned during the 2008 financial crisis, not on the politics 
of the moment or the political power of the bank lobby.
  Our new bill, the Secure Viable Banking Act, the SVB Act, would 
repeal title IV of S. 2155. It would restore Dodd-Frank regulations as 
they are applied to banks the same size as Silicon Valley Bank.
  Banking failures are bad. We should all be able to come together and 
agree that systemically significant banks need regulations to limit the 
risks of failure and to reduce the harmful consequences when a bank 
does fail.
  Let's agree to let Silicon Valley Bank be our last hard lesson. Let's 
not swing regulations back and forth with the political tides and whims 
of lobbyists. Let's, instead, keep rules in place that deliver a well-
regulated, stable, and growing economy.
  My SVB Act would do that.
  Madam Speaker, I urge Members to support the bill that creates a 
banking system that works for all of us, not just one that boosts 
banks' bottom lines.

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