Sen Josh Hawley (U.S. Senate communications video)
Some Republicans in Congress are balking at Democratic President Joe Biden’s announcement that special assessment fees will be levied on banks to cover the cost of the recent failures of Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank.
In response, U.S. Senator Josh Hawley, R-Missouri, is co-sponsoring a bill that would bar banks from passing on the cost of those fees to their customers.
“Working people in Missouri should not be paying for a bailout of California tech billionaires. It’s just that simple,” Hawley told Missourinet. “But that’s what the Biden administration wants. They want to charge everybody with a checking account in the state of Missouri — which is every working person — new fees and taxes to pay for this bailout. There shouldn’t be a bailout, number one, but number two, my legislation would stop the banks from charging Missourians to pay for it.”
Hawley also suggests the fees would be especially hard on small-town community banks.
“I’m worried that we’re going to have three or four banks in this country, all national banks,” he said. “And if you want to get a loan in Missouri — if you’re a farmer or, you know, you’ve got a local mechanic shop and you need a loan — you have to go to New York to get a loan. I don’t want that. That doesn’t work for communities in Missouri. That doesn’t work for working people.”
President Biden said, though, that taxpayers will not bear the costs. In addition, U.S. Senator Richard Blumenthal, D-Connecticut, said the president’s plan is not a bailout and will help prevent a run on banks in other parts of the country.
Copyright 2023, Missourinet.
