We’re demanding Congress restore and strengthen the banking regulations that they repealed less than 10 years after the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression.

Hi,

In 2018, Congress passed and Donald Trump signed a banking deregulation bill that we, along with Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders (and many others!), warned would set us up for another banking meltdown and bailout.1,2,3

Now it’s happening, with Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank melting down and fears growing about wider systemic collapse — and we’re demanding that Congress restore and strengthen the banking regulations that they idiotically removed less than 10 years after the 2008 financial crisis.

But, believe it or not, the same Wall Street lobbyists who convinced Congress to pass Trump’s bank deregulation bill in 2018 are swarming Capitol Hill again, fighting against any new regulations, promising this won’t happen again.

Enough is enough. We mobilized over 100,000 people in 2018 in opposition to the bill allowing banks to run amok, but we need even more people to speak out now.

Will you make a donation and help pressure Congress to restore and strengthen the banking regulations rolled back during the Trump administration and enact other key reforms?

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Elizabeth Warren wrote in The New York Times on Monday, “No one should be mistaken about what unfolded over the past few days in the U.S. banking system: These recent bank failures are the direct result of leaders in Washington weakening the financial rules.”4

She’s right.

Before the 2018 deregulation bill, banks like Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank were required to maintain enough cash on hand to absorb losses and to undergo regular stress tests to ensure their stability. These are the exact measures that were needed to prevent the collapse we’re seeing now.5

Silicon Valley Bank’s CEO was one of the people who lobbied hardest to eliminate the regulations that would have saved his bank.6 But he was just too damn greedy.

At minimum, Congress should repeal the 2018 deregulation bill and restore the protections before any other banks go down. In addition, Congress and regulators should strengthen federal deposit insurance and hold the executives at these banks accountable by clawing back their millions of dollars in ill-gotten salaries and bonuses.

How many times will we allow big banks to rip off taxpayers and avoid accountability? Never again. Now’s the time to pressure Congress to act.

Will you donate $10 to Demand Progress Action and support our work, including demanding that Congress repeal the 2018 banking deregulation bill?

With gratitude for all that you do,

Tihi and the team at Demand Progress Action

Sources:
1. Demand Progress, "Tell Chuck Schumer: RESIST, don't assist. Stop Trump’s Wall Street giveaway.," March 8, 2018.
2. Sen. Elizabeth Warren, "Senator Warren Calls on Senate to Reject Bank Lobbyist Act," March 14, 2018.
3. U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders via Facebook, "The Bank Lobbyist Act," March 6, 2018.
4. The New York Times, "Elizabeth Warren: Silicon Valley Bank Is Gone. We Know Who Is Responsible.," March 13, 2023.
5. Vox, "A 2018 banking law paved the way for Silicon Valley Bank’s collapse," March 13, 2023.
6. GovInfo.gov, "Examining the Regulatory Regime for Regional Banks," March 24, 2015.

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