At least two top Democrats are planning to relinquish political donations from Silicon Valley Bank’s political action committee in the wake of its collapse.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) donated contributions from the company’s CEO, Greg Becker, and a PAC affiliated with the bank to charity, according to a spokesperson. Meanwhile, Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA), ranking member of the House Financial Services Committee, plans to return the donation she received from the PAC, per Politico.
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“All contributions have been donated to charity,” a spokesperson for Schumer told the Washington Examiner.
Becker donated $5,800, the maximum allowed, to Schumer in June 2021, according to a Federal Election Commission filing. Schumer’s campaign also got $2,700 from SVB’s aligned PAC in 2015, per filings. Waters garnered $2,500 from the bank’s PAC in 2020, filings show.
SVB’s PAC donated over $50,000 to nearly two dozen senate and congressional campaigns between 2017 and 2022, Politico reported. Much of the cash went to key members of important committees that oversaw banking regulations.
Rep. Patrick McHenry (R-NC) and Sen. Mark Warner (D-VA) received some of the largest donations of about $7,500 from the PAC over the period, according to the report.
Regulators took over SVB last Friday after it endured a bank run triggered by the company’s Wednesday announcement that it would seek $2.25 billion in additional equity after being forced to sell $21 billion in bonds, cementing $1.8 billion in previously unrealized losses. On Thursday, $42 billion was withdrawn from the bank in a single day.
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A federal inquiry into SVB has reportedly been opened. Its failure marks the largest of its kind since Washington Mutual fell in 2008 during the financial crisis. SVB was the 16th-largest federally insured bank in the country.
The Washington Examiner contacted a Waters representative for comment.
