Republicans and Democrats unite over SVB failure

Deeply divided lawmakers have come together to work toward a single objective in response to Silicon Valley Bank's collapse: making money off the news.

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Since the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. took control of the struggling lender on March 10, members of Congress and presidential contenders have written dozens of emails to recipients asking for donations and petition signatures. Attacks on bank bailouts, reform demands, and lots of partisan indignation are all included in the requests for campaign donations.

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They gambled, mismanaged their risk, yet still will still get off scot-free, wrote Representative Pramila Jayapal, a progressive Democrat from Washington State, in an email. She also faulted Republicans for a bipartisan 2018 legislation that exempted mid-size banks like SVB from certain rules imposed by an earlier significant overhaul of financial industry regulations.

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Meanwhile, Conservatives attacked Vice President Joseph Biden. Senator Ron Johnson of Wisconsin informed his supporters that the financial crisis was brought on by rising interest rates designed to combat inflation, which, according to Johnson, was brought on by excessive deficit spending. The Biden administration, he claimed, didn't care about the deficit as he begged fans to contribute to pay off his debt from his 2022 campaign.

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The emails' divergent tones show that, even when lawmakers disagree on the causes of or approaches to many crises, no party will turn down the chance to use one as a platform for fundraising.

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A common subject in a number of emails was attacking the bank's technology clientele who had deposits far in excess of the $250,000 insurance cap. Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont compared them to low-income, uninsured workers who were battling cancer. In an email to supporters, Sanders said, "That's what Martin Luther King Jr. would call'socialism for the affluent and rugged individualism for the poor.'" Sanders was asking for signatures on a petition to tighten banking rules.

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The biotech entrepreneur competing for the Republican nomination for president, Vivek Ramaswamy, criticized crony capitalism and government economic involvement and vowed to put a stop to both if elected. He requested $5 or more from readers.

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Pundit Analytics, which monitors political officials' and candidates' emails, Facebook advertisements, and social media postings, claims that the first pitches began to arrive in inboxes on March 12. Those were the hours first before Federal Reserve, the FDIC, and the Treasury Department jointly vowed to compensate Silicon Valley Bank depositors.

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Although a couple of the emails also mention Signature Bank, another mid-sized bank taken over by authorities around the same time, the majority of them concentrate on SVB, which the FDIC is currently attempting to sell.

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The turmoil in the financial sector gave progressive Arizona Democrat Representative Ruben Gallego, who is running against independent Senator Kyrsten Sinema in 2024, an opportunity.

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Gallego was one of the first to criticize Sinema in fundraising emails over his support of the 2018 regulation rollback, which he opposed. The Sinema campaign chose not to respond. She has stated that she is working with both parties "to analyze clear warning indicators" that the Fed overlooked.

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In a fundraiser email she sent with the subject line "The era of 'too big to fail' was meant to be ended," New York Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a founding member of Congress's progressive "Squad," also called attention to the influence of money in politics.

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In promoting a bill that would end the exception for mid-size banks, which she proposed the next day, Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren attacked former President Donald Trump for lowering banking rules in her fundraising pitch.

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