GOP presidential candidates react to Silicon Valley Bank collapse; Trump blames ‘out-of-control Democrats'

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Collapse of Silicon Valley Bank a ‘warning sign’ of how ‘screwed up’ our banking system is: Gasparino

FOX Business senior correspondent Charlie Gasparino provides expert analysis of the historic collapse of Silicon Valley Bank and its widespread economic impact.

The three announced Republican 2024 presidential candidates weighed in over the weekend on the shocking collapse of Silicon Valley Bank (SVB). Former President Donald Trump's campaign blamed the Biden administration’s "anti-America policies" as former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley and entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy sounded off against a possible taxpayer bailout.

SVB, which had been the 16th-largest bank in the U.S., based in Santa Clara, California, collapsed last week and is now under the control of federal regulators.

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) only insures deposits up to $250,000, and some investors are saying a government bailout is necessary to protect depositors. Deposits that are insured by FDIC are supposed to be available by Monday morning, sparking fears that a run of withdrawals will create a domino effect.

Some liberals blamed Trump for signing a bipartisan bill in 2018 that rolled back elements of Dodd-Frank, prompting his campaign to fire back. (Dodd–Frank is a 2010 federal law that reformed financial regulation in the wake of the Great Recession.)

Former President Donald Trump speaks during the New Hampshire Republican State Committee 2023 annual meeting, Jan. 28, 2023, in Salem, New Hampshire. (AP)

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"Out-of-control Democrats and the Biden administration have pathetically continued to try to blame President Trump for their failures with desperate lies, such as the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) spy balloons, the train derailment in East Palestine and now the collapse of SVB," Trump campaign spokesman Steven Cheung told Fox News Digital.

"This is nothing more than a sad attempt to gaslight the public to evade responsibility," he said. "The fact is that Biden has presided over a catastrophic economy that has devastated everyday Americans and has caused misery across the country due to his anti-America policies."

Haley, the former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, said a corporate bailout should be off the table.

"Taxpayers should absolutely not bail out Silicon Valley Bank," she tweeted. "Private investors can purchase the bank and its assets. It is not the responsibility of the American taxpayer to step in. The era of big government and corporate bailouts must end."

Former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley greets people as she announces her run for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination at a campaign event in Charleston, South Carolina, on Feb. 15, 2023. (Reuters / Jonathan Ernst)

Ramaswamy, who founded Roivant Sciences and Strive Asset Management, argued that SVB should be allowed to "fully fail" and the FDIC should increase its guarantee level to prevent a bank run on Monday.

"If you want to prevent a run on other banks, increase the FDIC guarantee," he tweeted. "But SVB screwed up by utterly failing to take interest rate risk into account, in two ways – both in terms of client concentration risk amongst startups and investing in interest rate-sensitive securities. So did the many startups who blithely did business with them. It’s not the U.S. taxpayer’s job to now coddle them."

Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy speaks at a donor conference hosted by the conservative group Club for Growth on March 4, 2023, in Palm Beach, Florida. (Fox News)

Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said Sunday that the federal government will not bail out SVB but will help to try to meet the "needs" of depositors who stand to lose millions after the bank collapsed last week.

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"We’re not going to do that again," Yellen said, referring to bailouts. "But we are concerned about depositors, and we’re focused on trying to meet their needs."

"I’ve been working all weekend with our banking regulators to design appropriate policies to address this situation," she said. "I can’t really provide further details at this time, but I really want to emphasize that the American banking system is really safe and well capitalized. It’s resilient."

SVB did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital's request for comment.

Fox News’ Brooke Singman contributed to this report.