Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen's statement that she has not considered or discussed blanket insurance for U.S. banking deposits was "outrageous," Rep. Dan Meuser told Newsmax on Thursday.
"That's why the markets crashed yesterday," the Pennsylvania Republican told Newsmax's "Wake Up America," pointing out that after the collapses of Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank, she and Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell had said customers' deposits would be covered.
Yellen, speaking before a Senate Appropriations subcommittee, said she has not discussed the deposit insurance without approval by Congress, dashing hopes for a government guarantee to stop further bank runs. Meanwhile, First Republic Bank, which was already struggling, marked a 15.5% fall in shares Wednesday after her comments.
Banking groups are urging the Biden administration and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp (FDIC) to enact a temporary guarantee of all U.S. bank deposits, which they say will quiet a confidence crisis after the collapses of SVB and Signature.
Meuser said bailouts of the failing banks is a "bad idea," but still, "creating liquidity so depositors could receive their deposits, as well as the selling of assets," hasn't been done yet.
"Certainly with Silicon Valley, the assets need to be sold well before, in my view, the FDIC funds should be accessed," said Meuser.
The number of mistakes that were made also made the industry problem "bigger than it needed to be," he said.
"Granted, we're seeing that it's spread, but it's because of the way that it was handled initially," said Meuser."
However, he said he does agree that the Fed's rate hike of a quarter of a percentage point, was the right move at a "Goldilocks level," and that it was a "baked-in" move.
Meuser also commented about the situation concerning pending indictments against former President Donald Trump in Manhattan, where a grand jury could return charges against him on allegations of connections with the payment of money to adult film actress Stormy Daniels during the 2016 presidential campaign.
"It's a pretty outrageous situation," said Meuser, adding that Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg was "bought by" Democrat billionaire donor George Soros.
"We've got all kinds of crime going on in New York, and he's focused on this," said Meuser. "He's trying to make it out that a payment that they can't even prove came from President Trump was somehow indirectly manipulated to be a campaign in-kind contribution."
If that's the case, he argued, then "every news station, every media outlet that suppressed the Hunter Biden story, which helped Joe Biden get elected president, should be indicted and brought in on the same charges, if, in fact, Bragg moves forward with this."
About NEWSMAX TV:
NEWSMAX is the fastest-growing cable news channel in America!
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
© 2024 Newsmax. All rights reserved.