SVB’s Political Fault Lines
Happy Wednesday! The Hill reported Monday that “the most partisan member of Congress, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, generated nearly 10 times as much press coverage in the 2022 election cycle as the least partisan member, Rep. Don Bacon, according to a new study of ‘hyper-partisan’ politics.” More on Bacon in a moment …
Up to Speed
- Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell was discharged from the hospital on Monday after he suffered a concussion from a fall last Wednesday. McConnell also fractured a rib and “the next step will be a period of physical therapy at an inpatient rehabilitation facility before he returns home,” according to a McConnell spokesman.
- Former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who resigned in 2021 amid a sexual harassment scandal, announced Monday evening he is launching an organization called Progressives for Israel. “I am going to call the question for Democrats,” he said in a video announcement. “Do you stand with Israel? Or do you stand against Israel? Because silence is not an option.”
The Politics of SVB’s Collapse
The bank bailouts following the 2007-08 financial crisis were an all-hands-on-deck affair. President George W. Bush, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke, and both houses of Congress worked to pass a bill that would stabilize America’s tottering financial sector. Yet the federal actions taken in the wake of Silicon Valley Bank’s collapse last week were a spectator sport for most in D.C.
The bank run started Thursday and SVB was in receivership by Friday. The White House, Federal Reserve, and Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation emerged Sunday night to announce that all affected depositors would maintain uninterrupted access to their money courtesy of the FDIC’s deposit insurance fund. (Disclaimer: The Dispatch was a Silicon Valley Bank customer.)
By the time most of the political class punched back on Monday morning, the only role left for most to play was pundit. (Though Rep. Kevin Hern, who chairs the influential Republican Study Committee, reportedly warned members and their staff to stop doing TV hits and tweeting about the situation if they didn’t have a good grasp on what was going on.)
