No Government Bailout for Silicon Valley Bank, Yellen Says

Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen rejected the idea of bailing out Silicon Valley Bank, instead signaling a focus on depositors. 

Key Quotes: In a Sunday interview with CBS’ (Lean Left bias) Face the Nation, interviewer Margaret Brennan asked Yellen whether she had ruled out a bailout, as her counterpart in the U.K. had done regarding SVB’s U.K. arm. Yellen replied, “Well, let me be clear that during the financial crisis, there were investors and owners of systemic large banks that were bailed out and were certainly not looking. And the reforms that have been put in place means that we're not going to do that again. But we are concerned about depositors and are focused on trying to meet their needs.” Yellen emphasized that “new controls,” “better capital,” and “liquidity supervision” proved their “resilience” during the COVID-19 pandemic. Meanwhile, lawmakers reportedly appeared united in agreeing with Yellen that a bailout was off the table.

For Context: SVB was the largest American bank to collapse since Washington Mutual in 2008, making it the second-largest bank failure in U.S. history. Many drew comparisons to the 2008 financial crisis, when policymakers propped up banks to prevent a broader banking system failure.

How the Media Covered It: Yellen’s remarks were covered widely on Sunday. Coverage was generally similar regardless of the outlet’s bias rating.