WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senate Commerce Committee Ranking Member Ted Cruz (R-Texas) and House Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) today sent a bicameral letter to Mary Daly, President and CEO of the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco (“SF Fed”), regarding the SF Fed’s failure to properly ensure the safety and soundness of Silicon Valley Bank (“SVB”) and to comply with congressional oversight requests about SVB’s collapse.

Sen. Cruz and Rep. Jordan wrote:

“The need for transparency from the Federal Reserve is greater than ever. In the weeks following SVB’s meltdown, the American people lost a great deal of trust in the Federal Reserve, and the SF Fed in particular. For instance, Democrat Senator Elizabeth Warren said she does not have faith in your leadership of the bank. To begin restoring public trust and faith, we therefore expect the SF Fed to welcome our requests and give prompt and complete responses.

“There are reasons for concern, however, that the SF Fed will resist oversight by the American people’s elected representatives. The SF Fed essentially failed to respond to Ranking Member Cruz’s March 16th letter on this subject. And the regional Fed banks, including the SF Fed, have a yearslong pattern and practice of stonewalling congressional oversight requests. The SF Fed’s repeated refusal to comply with such requests, in part, prompted a bipartisan group of Senators to introduce legislation that would require the Federal Reserve regional banks to respond to lawmakers and the public. That legislation is pending, but answers regarding SVB’s collapse are needed immediately.”

In addition to the information requested in Sen. Cruz’s letter sent to the SF Fed on March 16^th, Sen. Cruz and Rep. Jordan are seeking all documents and communications concerning examinations and enforcement actions concerning SVB since January 2020. The letter also states that the Federal Reserve’s expected May 1^st report on SVB’s collapse is not a substitute for compliance with this congressional oversight request.

Upon opening his oversight probe into Biden’s Big Tech bank bailout on March 16, 2023, Sen. Cruz demanded that SVB and the SF Fed answer a number of questions regarding SVB’s radical environmental, social, governance (“ESG”) agenda and whether or not SVB performed internal liquidity stress tests or received exemptions from such tests.

The full text of the letter is available HERE.

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