California lawmakers were told during a briefing call Sunday that the top priority for the Treasury Department and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation is engineering a sale following the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank, two people on the call told NBC. News.

Lawmakers were also told during the call that Treasury is working on options for unsecured accounts above the $250,000 threshold, according to the sources.

SVB’s funds are currently held by the FDIC. Everyone who banked with SVB, one of the top lenders to the tech sector, only had up to $250,000 guaranteed by the federal government. The financial future of those who deposited more than that amount with SVB remains uncertain.

House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., said Sunday he is «hopeful» that federal officials will make an announcement about SVB’s collapse before the market opens.

McCarthy said in an appearance on Fox News’ «Sunday Morning Futures» that he spoke with Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell and Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen after regulators shut down SVB.

“They have the tools to handle the current situation, they know the severity of this and they are working to try to get some announcement out before the markets open,” McCarthy said. «Hopefully something can be announced today to move forward.»

McCarthy added that he believes it is «very possible» to find a buyer for SVB, which he believes would be the «best outcome to move forward and cool the markets.»

Rep. Josh Gottheimer of New Jersey, the top Democrat in the Problem Solvers Caucus, plans to ask federal regulators to «act quickly to reassure consumers,» according to a draft letter obtained by NBC News, which has not yet is sent. Gottheimer is still in the process of collecting signatories.

“To be clear: we do not believe that regulators should help SVB shareholders,” the letter says, referring to discussions of a buyout, which Yellen has already downplayed. “Right now, we are concerned about depositors at SVB and at banks across the country, suddenly taken aback by SVB’s catastrophic failure that unfolded in just forty-eight hours, accelerated, in part, by social media and withdrawals. pack mentality.

Yellen said Sunday on CBS’s «Face the Nation» that there would be no bailout. He added that the federal government is trying to find a way to help depositors.

The draft letter also urges the Treasury and Federal Reserve to prioritize finding a buyer for SVB, encourage banks that have relationships with SVB depositors to extend temporary credit lines to help with essential costs like payroll and offer liquidity through repurchase agreements. It also calls on Congress and the Federal Reserve to consider temporarily raising the FDIC limit on deposit insurance above $250,000.

Members of California’s congressional delegation were also briefed on SVB on Saturday night by the FDIC, various offices in the House and Senate told NBC News.

Rep. Katie Porter, D-Calif., said rising interest rates were a factor behind SVB’s closure, along with the Covid-19 pandemic and the bank’s management strategy.

“There are real questions about why the bank didn’t anticipate one of the most fundamental financial facts that everyone should know, which is that interest rates go up and down,” Porter said in an interview on MSNBC.Sunday’s program.”

«You can’t bet that they will stay low forever,» he added. «They didn’t, they went up and the bank wasn’t ready and there are some real supervisory questions about that.»

Porter said in a tweet on Saturday that he was working on the legislation.

“The collapse of Silicon Valley Bank was totally avoidable”, she wrote. “In 2018, Wall Street pushed through a deregulation bill that allowed banks like SVB to take reckless risks. It happened, even as I and many others warned of the risks. I am drafting legislation to repeal that law, S. 2155.”

Rep. Ro Khanna, D-Calif., said acquisitions would be «the ideal situation» and the California delegation made that clear when speaking to the FDIC Saturday night.

“That is what we urge them to work on. They said they are working on it. But for that to happen, the FDIC and Treasury need to be involved, because these assets are illiquid and can be written off within 10 years,» Khanna said on CBS News’ «Face the Nation.» «I don’t think you’ll get a private seller without Treasury and the FDIC being actively involved in helping liquidity with these treasuries.»

Senate Banking Committee staff were informed in a call Saturday night and plans are in the works for a briefing for committee members this week, congressional aides told NBC News.

Hearings to investigate the matter are not ruled out, but have not been set, aides said.