GOP House Oversight Chairman Mocked for Blaming Silicon Valley Bank Collapse on Being ‘Woke’: Has ‘Absolutely NOTHING’ to Do With Bank’s Failure
Congressman James Comer (R-KY) was criticized for attributing the Silicon Valley Bank’s collapse to the notion that the financial institution was “woke.”
Comer joined Fox News’ Maria Bartiromo on Sunday — who started her interview with the House Oversight Committee chairman by asking about Silicon Valley Bank’s sudden failure on Friday after a bank run. Asked for his thoughts, Comer brought up concerns that the bank’s failure could establish a trend because “usually when one bank goes down, more banks go down.”
“They invested a lot of cash. A lot of cash that I would assume they had from things like the PPP loan, government policy, and they invested it in bonds,” Comer said. “And then, because the Democrats spent too much money in all their stimulus, the bonds go down and interest rates go up.”
Shortly thereafter, Comer moved to highlight his assessment that “we see now coming out they were one of the most woke banks in their quest for the ESG-type policy and investing. This could be a trend and there are consequences for bad Democrat policy.”
ESG is an acronym for “Environmental, Social, and Governance.” As such, Comer was insinuating that Silicon Valley Bank’s failure had something to do with the bank’s interest in balancing social responsibility factors with financial incentives when it came to their investment decision-making.
Comer didn’t offer a source for his specific claims about the bank being “woke,” but his comments were heavily criticized on social media. Some observers argued that being “woke” was irrelevant to SVB’s troubles, others accused Comer of glossing over the broader context of the collapse, and still others accused him of tossing out the term “woke” for an unsubstantial jab at progressives.
