Impressive Sen. Elizabeth Warren on Wednesday reiterated her criticism of easing 2018 Dodd-Frank rules for small and midsize banks KRE, -2.92% , after joining dozens of fellow Democratic lawmakers in introducing a bill that would repeal those rollbacks. The collapse of Silicon Valley Bank. “What we need to do right now, here in Congress, is, ‘We now have evidence of what happens when you relax the rules for banks of that size,'” the Massachusetts Democrat said during a CNBC interview. Need to put in place and tell regulators to get tough on banks of that size, because remember the argument. The argument these banks made was, ‘We’re small banks, just like community banks. We’re not a risk.’ I think we’ve seen that’s not the case.” Warner, Rep. of California. Katie Porter and other Democrats released their Secure Viable Banking Act on Wednesday, but the bill’s prospects remain uncertain. Democrats hold a slim majority in the Senate, while Republicans hold an equally tenuous hold on the House of Representatives. In a conversation in New York on Tuesday night, former Federal Reserve Vice Chair for Supervision Randall Quarles said the rollback had “nothing to do” with Silicon Valley bank SIVB’s collapse during his tenure, according to a Bloomberg report. Quarles said Washington’s focus should be on bank oversight and the treatment of uninsured deposits. He was appointed by former President Donald Trump and served from 2017 to 2021. In a similar vein, a spokesman for Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina, the top Republican on the Senate Banking Committee, has also expressed skepticism about increased regulations. “Regulators failed to do their job with respect to SVB, and if regulators can no longer do their job with what the law gives them, why give them a better way to regulate more?” According to a roll call report, spokesman Ryan Durant said. Additionally, Democrats who implemented the 2018 rollback along with Republicans and Trump have not expressed regret. For example, Virginia’s Democratic Sen. Mark Warner told the ABC on Sunday that he thought the measures “put an appropriate level of regulation on medium-sized banks.” Warren blasted the 2018 Dodd-Frank rollback earlier in the week, as she wrote in a New York Times op-ed published Monday that “recent bank failures are a direct result of leaders in Washington weakening financial regulations.” President Joe Biden also made that point in a speech Monday, as he said “the last administration rolled back some of these requirements” and called for stronger regulations. U.S. stocks SPX, -1.66% DJIA, -1.93% Credit Suisse CSGN, -24.33% CS, -25.10% fueled fresh banking-sector KBE, -3.16% concerns. Greg Robb of MarketWatch contributed to this report. Read now: Silicon Valley bank failure called ‘black eye’ for bank regulators, Congress See also: Elizabeth Warren asks Fed chief Powell to recuse himself from Silicon Valley bank probe Plus: SEC chief Gensler promises investigation following bank failures
