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--:-- John Bickley: Welcome to Morning Wire. I'm John Bickley, Editor-in-Chief of the Daily Wire.
--:-- Georgia Howe: And I'm Georgia Howe. It's Monday, March 13th.
--:-- John Bickley: This episode is brought to you by LifeLock. When you visit the doctor, you probably hand over your insurance, your ID, and contact details. It's just one of the many places that has your personal info. And if any of them accidentally expose it, you could be at risk for identity theft. LifeLock monitors millions of data points a second. If you become a victim, they'll fix it, guaranteed, or your money back. Save up to 40% your first year at LifeLock.com slash podcast. Terms apply.
--:-- Georgia Howe: This episode is also brought to you by Black Rifle Coffee. Start your morning with America's coffee from BlackRifleCoffee.com.
--:-- John Bickley: The collapse of Silicon Valley Bank prompted widespread fear of a domino effect, but Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen says no bailout is coming, but insists this won't be another 2008. The American banking system is really safe and well capitalized. It's resilient. We have the latest on the second biggest bank failure in U.S. history.
--:-- Georgia Howe: President Biden has unveiled his 2024 budget plan, prompting fierce debate on Capitol Hill. We break down what's in the president's plan and how it would affect the economy.
--:-- John Bickley: And the Heritage Foundation files seven lawsuits against the FBI. Thanks for waking up with Morning Wire. Stay tuned. We have the news you need to know.
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--:-- Georgia Howe: The sudden collapse of Silicon Valley Bank at the end of last week has triggered widespread fear of bank runs and a series of responses from federal and banking officials.
--:-- John Bickley: Here to discuss the latest on the collapse of SVB is Daily Wire reporter Amanda Presa Giacomo.
--:-- Amanda Presa Giacomo: Okay, Amanda, this is a rapidly unfolding story. First, tell us about SVB, the Silicon Valley Bank, and what took place over the course of just a few days.
--:-- Amanda Presa Giacomo: Sure. And yes, there's a lot to unpack here. So SVB, a top 20 bank, which is seen as the go-to bank for tech startups, collapsed over the course of some 40 hours last week, culminating with the California Department of Financial Protection and Innovation, closing the bank on Friday and naming the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, or the FDIC, as a receiver in an effort to protect its clients.
--:-- Amanda Presa Giacomo: The event that prompted the crash was SVB announcing on Wednesday that they were being forced to sell a bunch of securities at a loss. That raised concerns among venture capital firms and startups about the safety of their assets, and depositors rushed to withdraw money, sparking a classic run on the bank.
--:-- Amanda Presa Giacomo: Some have blamed the bank's collapse on the Federal Reserve's interest rate hikes. The Wall Street Journal noted that the rate hikes have caused the value of existing bonds with lower payouts to fall in value, translating to giant unrealized losses for some banks. But some say rising interest rates are no excuse, that the bank had plenty of time to prepare.
--:-- Amanda Presa Giacomo: We talked to founder and CEO of Case Capital, Kenny Polcari, about the issue. Here's what he told us. The Fed has been very clear about raising rates, about inflation was a problem, about rates were going to go higher. and they've been talking about it for two years. So this did not come out of left field. This was not a surprise
--:-- Amanda Presa Giacomo: Now what does this mean for customers Will they lose everything if they don get out in time Well the FDIC will cover the first but about 90 of the bank clients had more than that invested most of whom did not have additional insurance on their funds It's unclear how much cash the bank still has, but a New York Post obtained note from a top investment bank estimated that it could take anywhere from 60 days to up to two years for clients to get paid out. And even then, SVB clients could get only 80 to 90 cents on the dollar if no buyer steps in. That's an incredibly tough timeline for small businesses and startups who don't yet have a huge influx of cash. And that can mean missed payrolls affecting a lot of everyday Americans.
--:-- John Bickley: Okay, so what's the buzz right now in financial circles? What's the speculation about what's going to happen or what should happen?
--:-- Amanda Presa Giacomo: Well, there's certainly been a lot of input here. billionaire investor Bill Ackman says he's completely skeptical that SVB will find a so-called white knight in the private sector and advised a highly dilutive government bailout focused on depositors. Ackman warned that if action isn't taken and soon, tens of thousands of jobs could be lost.
--:-- Amanda Presa Giacomo: Entrepreneur and Shark Tank investor Mark Cuban, who has an exposure between $8 to $10 million at SVB, made a pitch for the feds to take action too, arguing for smaller companies now at a loss.
--:-- John Bickley: So the signal from the government right now is that they will not be bailing out SVB. Instead, they're trying to auction off the bank, correct?
--:-- Amanda Presa Giacomo: Yeah, that's right. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said Sunday they won't be bailing out SVB like they did big banks back in 2008, but did say they were very concerned about those with money in the bank. We're not going to do that again, but we are concerned about depositors depositors and are focused on trying to meet their needs.
--:-- Amanda Presa Giacomo: Later on Sunday, the Treasury Secretary, the Federal Reserve, and the FDIC put out a joint statement announcing a resolution that fully protects all depositors of SVB. The statement said clients will have access to all their money starting Monday, adding that no losses associated with the resolution will be borne by the taxpayer.
--:-- John Bickley: Yellen also approved a similar resolution for New York-based bank Signature Bank, which was closed on Sunday in the wake of all this chaos, all depositors there will also be made whole with the promise that, again, no losses will be borne by the taxpayer.
--:-- Amanda Presa Giacomo: The joint statement also noted that shareholders and certain unsecured debt holders will not be protected and senior management has been, quote, removed.
--:-- John Bickley: We should also note that SVB is getting a lot of criticism for its mismanagement over the last year, reportedly failing to have someone in charge of risk assessment for some eight months.
--:-- Amanda Presa Giacomo: Amanda, thanks for reporting.
--:-- John Bickley: That was Daily Wire reporter, Amanda Prestigiacomo.
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--:-- Georgia Howe: President Biden unveiled his proposed 2024 budget on Thursday, providing a first look at his administration's priorities for the coming year. The $6.9 trillion proposal, which includes billions in funding for social programs and billions more in new tax hikes, will now head to Congress for debate.
--:-- John Bickley: Here with more on what in the president budget and how members of both parties are responding is Daily Wire senior editor Cabot Phillips.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: Hey Cabot, so what are we looking at here?
--:-- Cabot Phillips: Well, typically the White House releases their budget with little fanfare but this time was different as Biden announced the basics of the proposal at a public address in Philadelphia. And look, it's no coincidence he gave that speech in a swing state. The president really used this budget announcement to essentially tout his liberal credentials ahead of the 2024 election.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: It's also important to note this proposal is right now more of a political wish list than anything close to a final draft. Because Congress ultimately controls the nation's purse strings, they've got the final say on the federal budget. So think of this as stage one of negotiations.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: Republicans who control the House are going to be making quite a few changes. Right, we'll get to their reaction. But first, tell us about what's in this budget.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: Well, in addition to the standard measures that will fund federal agencies, there's hundreds of billions in new spending for a whole host of issues that liberals have been calling for, including government-funded preschool, climate change subsidies, expanded welfare and government housing, and increased Pell grants for black students going to college, among many other things.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: But the reality is that Biden knows this budget will not pass with many of those measures included. So many of those provisions are nothing more than political nuggets he can mention on the campaign trail. That's a pretty common thing that presidents do with their first initial budget proposal.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: Right. Now, nearly $7 trillion is quite the price tag. Where's the funding going to come from? That is a major sticking point right now. The Biden administration has been very open about the fact that this will require around $5 trillion in new taxes.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: But they say those hikes will be aimed squarely at America's wealthiest individuals and largest businesses. Most notably, the plan would raise America's corporate tax rate from 21% to 28%. It would also call for a minimum 25% tax on households worth over $100 million and raise the payroll tax on households making over $400,000 to 39.6%.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: Ultimately, this budget would scrap a huge chunk of the Trump tax reform plan from back in 2017.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: Now, on the political front, what sort of reaction have we seen? Well, for the most part, Democrats are pleased. They say the plan makes important investments in climate change and will improve what they call racial equity while maintaining increased spending on defense.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: One of their main points in support of the plan has been that it would cut the deficit by $3 trillion over the next decade, but that's been hotly contested, not just by Republicans, but also some in the legacy media.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: For example, the Washington Post editorial board wrote a piece entitled, quote, the United States has a debt problem. Biden's budget won't solve it.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: What about Republicans? What sort of opposition are we seeing from them?
--:-- Cabot Phillips: Yeah, to put it simply, they say that the tax hikes would inevitably be passed on to lower and middle class Americans. They point out that higher taxes on businesses typically result in higher prices for consumers down the line, or in many cases, fewer benefits. for employees.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: Senator Joe Kennedy from Louisiana had this to say on Fox Sunday. The only way I know how to improve the president's budget is with a shredder.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: Republicans also view the budget as being woke in their words and focusing too much on social justice and climate change and not enough on actual fiscal responsibility.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: Texas Senator Ted Cruz, for example, noted on Twitter that the proposal mentioned the word equity 63 times, climate 148 times, environmental justice 25 times, transgender 8 times, and intersex 7 times. So they say that the priorities are misplaced here.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: All right, so what comes next? Well, Republicans in the House Budget Committee have vowed to trim billions off that final number, and so they'll get to work this week on a response proposal that likely cut out many of those social spending provisions that Biden had touted in his speech last week.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: But ultimately, there likely will not be a formal response offer for a month or so. So this process could take some time.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: Well, we'll see what Republicans come up with. Cabot, thanks for reporting.
--:-- John Bickley: Anytime. That Daily Wire senior editor Cabot Phillips.
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--:-- John Bickley: The Heritage Foundation has filed seven lawsuits against the FBI over what they say is the political weaponization of the Bureau.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Joining us to discuss is Mike Howell, director of the Heritage Oversight Project.
--:-- Mike Howell: Welcome, Mike. So you filed what you're calling a litigation blitz demanding more information from the FBI regarding several controversies.
--:-- Mike Howell: So they range from a series of controversy, starting with essentially knowing how many hours were spent on the January 6th investigations at the expense of actual violent crime investigations. I mean, we know that this country is experiencing a historic crime wave.
--:-- Mike Howell: There's seven, so I'll go through the rest really quickly. But the Black Lives Matter riots, we want to know why the FBI did not get involved there. It was clearly a conspiracy national in nature with a lot of funding sources. I mean, you can look no further than the vice president of the United States, who was collecting bail money to get some of these violent rioters out of jail.
--:-- Mike Howell: And when they got out of jail, they did quite a bit of damage. We also want to know about FBI partisan political support of the rioters. There's a now famous photograph of a bunch of agents kneeling in solidarity with those rioters. And we want to know why those agents weren't held accountable.
--:-- Mike Howell: We're also suing for records that relate to the war family and their weaponization of the FBI to basically work the steel dossier into existence and target President Trump.
--:-- Mike Howell: We're also asking for, speaking of President Trump, records regarding the dual standards that were applied when the FBI raided President Trump's Mar-a-Lago home versus the kid-glove treatment of President Biden.
--:-- Mike Howell: So the basic theory underpinning all these lawsuits is the weaponization of the FBI. And I'll add as a final note, these are documents that do not belong to the FBI. These are documents that belong to the American people. The law under FOIA says they have to be turned over.
--:-- Mike Howell: We have to go to court to get the FBI to comply with basic law here. I think that shows a vast hypocrisy at the FBI and the highest levels of the DOJ.
--:-- Mike Howell: The Attorney General Merrick Garland has insisted that he's nonpartisan, that he's doing his job in an unbiased way. Meanwhile, we've learned more details about the DOJ's direct involvement in the FBI raid of Mar-a-Lago, among other things.
--:-- Mike Howell: Is Merrick Garland nonpartisan, as he claims?
--:-- Mike Howell: Oh, absolutely not. I mean, this is someone the Senate should have seen coming a mile away. You can look no further than the implementation of the Space Act law, which they dusted off the shelves that had never been enforced, and they're using it to go after pro-lifers, when that's really not a concern that merits the FBI and DOJ being involved.
--:-- Mike Howell: It's this like search and constant severe application of any hook they can get to go after conservatives. With the Mar-a-Lago raid, that is clearly the, I guess, low watermark for the Garland tenure.
--:-- Mike Howell: There was no reason why 200 plus years of historical precedent in the United States had to be shattered over a document dispute.
--:-- Mike Howell: Also, if you look at the directionality of the constant stream of leaks coming out of the Department of Justice, tells you only one thing. That is that the Department of Justice is working in concert with the media to drive political narratives that connect with the federal law enforcement.
--:-- Mike Howell: The leaks only go one way. And I'm not aware of any leak investigation at the Department of Justice to stop this.
--:-- Mike Howell: So the read that I think any reasonable person has is these are condoned, these are directional, these are approved. And I think that's proof positive of the fact that DOJ working with mainstream media is definitely engaged in this political use of law enforcement for their ends.
--:-- John Bickley: Well, Mike, thank you so much for coming on.
--:-- Georgia Howe: That was Mike Howell, Director of the Heritage Oversight Project.
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--:-- John Bickley: That's all the time we've got this morning. Thanks for waking up with us. We'll be back later this afternoon with more news you need to know.
