WASHINGTON — The collapse of Silicon Valley Bank has united deeply divided lawmakers toward a singular goal: raising money off the news.
Members of Congress and presidential candidates have sent dozens of emails hitting up recipients for money and asking them to sign petitions since the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. took over the troubled lender on March 10. The appeals for campaign cash include attacks on bank bailouts, calls for reform, plus plenty of partisan outrage.
Representative Pramila Jayapal, a Washington State progressive Democrat, took a shot at the leaders of Silicon Valley Bank, writing in an email that “They gambled, mismanaged their risk, and yet will still get off scot-free.” She also blamed Republicans for a bipartisan 2018 law that exempted mid-size banks like SVB from some of the rules imposed by an earlier massive overhaul of financial industry regulations.
