The House will vote to override President Joe Biden’s ESG rollback veto … U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai testifies at Senate Finance at 10 a.m. … House Financial Services has a hearing on China’s role in fentanyl trafficking at 10 a.m. … Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen testifies with OMB Director Shalanda Young and White House CEA Chair Cecilia Rouse at House Appropriations at 3 p.m. … First in MM: McHenry and Hill press Yellen and Gruenberg for bank rescue details — House Financial Services Chair Patrick McHenry and Vice Chair French Hill have asked Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen and FDIC Chair Martin Gruenberg for a detailed accounting of their actions to stabilize the banking system over the weekend of March 10-12, as well as whether there were any warning signs about Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank. In letters sent Wednesday, the Republicans asked for a specific timeline of events but also justifications for key decisions. Among them: The committee wants to know how Gruenberg evaluated bidders for Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank before officials opted to have the government guarantee their deposits. The lawmakers ask if he was involved in assessing SVB bids from PNC and RBC prior to March 10 and what his criteria was for evaluating them. McHenry said at the American Bankers Association conference Wednesday that he wants to know whether a private sector solution was a viable option for SVB and Signature “or did the administration allow its ideological lens to color its judgment.” Coinbase vs. SEC: It’s on — One of the most anticipated regulatory battles in crypto appears to be underway, our Declan Harty reports. Coinbase, the largest U.S.-based digital currency exchange, revealed Wednesday that the SEC warned the company of pending charges following an investigation of its trading platform, crypto staking service and wallet product. A Coinbase crackdown has long been a when-not-if question in light of SEC Chair Gary Gensler’s position that many crypto products are unregulated securities. Coinbase and the broader industry have said for years that the assertion is wrong, and so for them the SEC case is a do-or-die moment with huge implications. “[W]e are right on the law, confident in the facts, and welcome the opportunity for Coinbase (and by extension the broader crypto community) to get before a court,” Coinbase co-founder and CEO Brian Armstrong said on Twitter. Yellen knocks down unilateral deposit guarantee — The Treasury secretary is trying to put to bed speculation that the Biden administration and regulators may go around Congress to instate a nationwide guarantee for uninsured deposits. “It’s not something that we’re considering,” Yellen told a Senate committee. The comment is a blow to midsize banks that pleaded for a two-year backstop to stem further runs. But, as we’ve reported, other banking groups had steered clear of such an ask and may be relieved that Yellen signaled the idea will stay on the shelf. Deposit politics — Top lawmakers continue to refine their positions as revamping federal deposit insurance takes hold as a top legislative target post-SVB. — Sen. Elizabeth Warren, one of the first policymakers who called for enhancing deposit insurance after the SVB collapse, said guaranteeing all deposits would create “real problems.” She said billion-dollar depositors are like investors, and when a bank blows up “they should be treated like investors.” — Senate Banking Chair Sherrod Brown cast doubt on a temporary, universal deposit backstop, saying on the sidelines of the ABA conference that “things like that end up being permanent too often.” But he said longer-term deposit changes were a potential target for bipartisan collaboration, including raising the insurance cap for businesses to “deal with the issue of payroll.” — McHenry made a dig at lawmakers — including those in his own party — who have been eager to propose a bigger deposit safety net. He said at the ABA conference that “some policymakers on both sides of the aisle are already jumping to the conclusion with incomplete information.”
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