CNN Newsroom: Interview With Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA) About Silicon Valley Bank Collapse

Interview

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Well, thank you very much for taking this issue up. It is very important. Yes, I have been interacting with not only other members of the committee that I serve on the Financial Services Committee, but Mr. McHenry and I are working together on this issue. We think it's very important. It is not an issue that should be captured or led by either party. It's so important for us to try to do everything that we can to make sure that, number one, the depositors get their money, whether they are insured or not insured.

And to make sure there's -- you know, opportunity for other people to get involved in basically determining whether or not other banks should be involved in some way. We are concerned about contagion.

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Well, I want you to know that FDIC certainly has a plan. And that plan is ready to go and we're concerned about the jobs that are at stake. Many of those startups have their payrolls in that bank. They handled the payroll. And so we're going to make sure that we do everything not only to make sure that the depositors are taken care of, but they are taking care of in ways that will ensure that the jobs are not lost.

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Well, we're focusing on the depositors. We're focusing on those that are insured, those that are not insured, and so it's not a time for me to talk about the bank. We're not concerned about the bank. If the bank made mistakes, they are probably going to be held accountable. But we've got to get the money back to the depositors.

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No, no, no, no. I think not. I think there is a plan. And when people see that there is a plan that this plan is going to cover both the insured and the uninsured, and that people are going to get their money back, and that jobs are going to be maintained. The payrolls will be ready to go for those startup companies, those companies who have their payrolls handled by the bank. I think that people should be calm.

I think that the plan is going to help alleviate some of those fears. And I'm looking forward to the fact that we won't have the kind of contagion where it will have a ripple effect at all.

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Welcome. Thank you.

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