❌ A Maine senator doubts bank deregulation led to a major collapse.
◉ Both of Maine's senators voted for a 2018 bank deregulation bill that progressives have partially blamed for the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank after a run last week. There is no consensus among experts that the laws predating the change would have saved it, since regulators still had tools they could use.
◉ Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, rejected the idea that the measure was to blame, issuing a statement to the BDN citing major mistakes by the bank's executives coupled with rising interest rates that she said were driven in part by federal spending. Sen. Angus King, I-Maine, who caucuses with Democrats, avoided a question about the 2018 change in his own statement this week.
◉ But in Washington, he told The Intercept that the bank still had stress tests and liquidity requirements and that he would vote the same way because the measure helped free smaller banks from regulations.
◉ "That was my mission, that was what I was working on," King said. "The others were focused on the $250 [billion], and that was part of the compromise that got us the aid for the smaller banks." |
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