Source: United States Senator Kevin Cramer (R-ND)
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BISMARCK – U.S. Senator Kevin Cramer (R-ND) joined Chuck Todd on Meet the Press to discuss the Silicon Valley Bank collapse, budget and debt limit negotiations, and the release of Capitol surveillance from January 6, 2021. Excerpts and full video are below.
On Silicon Valley Bank, Financial Regulations:
“There are so many unique things about Silicon Valley [Bank] that aren’t necessarily applicable systemically. My hope is it’s very localized and we can address it in that way.
“[Small banks] certainly don’t need any more regulation. That doesn’t mean you can be mismanaged. Now, we have to throw in the obvious, […] and that is the fact we have seen a rather sharp increase in interest rates, which has put some smaller banks at odds with their own balance sheet. Now, of course, we have a Federal Reserve trying to change its balance sheet at the same time. Perhaps we need to do a little more review of all of that, but I don’t think smaller banks need more oversight or more regulation – maybe better oversight, but certainly not more regulation.”
On Debt Ceiling, Budget Negotiations:
“It’s not just about America’s – the government’s – debt ceiling, but many individuals have hit their own debt ceiling, and their savings accounts are being drained. We have a crisis, if you will, on our hands that requires lots of things. We don’t need to have a ‘fight’ on debt ceiling, but this is why I think it’s foolish for the President to simply say, ‘I’m not going to negotiate on the debt ceiling.’ This is the time to have a negotiation.
“The problem with the old-fashioned way [of negotiating the federal budget] is it has eluded us now for a decade. I’ve been in Congress over a decade and I’ve never seen the ‘old-fashioned way.’ We’ve never had ‘regular order’ as they call it. We need to get back to that, but I think the debt ceiling situation is one of the opportunities to demand that and all get together and work with one another.”
On Capitol Surveillance Release from January 6, 2021:
“A four-hour stroll through the Capitol that’s marred by a half-hour of rioting doesn’t make it a peaceful protest. Nobody was supposed to be in the Capitol, so there’s not a single person who’s completely innocent of wrongdoing, but not everybody that day is at the same level of crime. 518 [people] have confessed to committing crimes that day. 420 [people] have been prosecuted and sentenced. So, clearly, it wasn’t a peaceful protest. That’s not to say the vast majority of them don’t have regret, or they didn’t understand the severity of what they were doing or the severity of what some other people are doing… I do think it’s unfair to put them all in the same bucket.
“I’ve never felt like democracy is actually in trouble. We survived a civil war, we’re going to survive this as well. What frustrates me is that we’re talking about it again. […] We should be talking about the southern border. We should be talking about China and the challenge it possesses, and talking about inflation, and a budget that drives up deficits forever. Those are winning arguments for Republicans, not re-litigating January 6, 2021.
“What I do regret about the release of the 41,000 hours [of Capitol surveillance] is it was released to one person in primetime who is rather sensational in his approach, rather than just releasing it to everybody. Transparency absolutely is the best way to go. I think Kevin McCarthy has a right to do it, I just wish he would have released it to everybody at the same time.”