A week after the second-largest bank collapse in U.S. history, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen is set to tell the Senate Finance Committee that the nation�s banking system �remains sound� and Americans �can feel confident� about their deposits.

Yellen will be the first Biden administration official to face lawmakers over the decision to protect uninsured money at two failed regional banks, a move that some observers have criticized as a bank �bailout.�

�The government took decisive and forceful actions to strengthen public confidence� in the U.S. banking system, Yellen says in prepared testimony released before her appearance. �I can reassure the members of the Committee that our banking system remains sound, and that Americans can feel confident that their deposits will be there when they need them.�

In less than a week, Silicon Valley Bank, based in Santa Clara, California, failed after depositors rushed to withdraw money amid anxiety over the bank�s health. Then, regulators convened over the weekend and announced that New York-based Signature Bank also failed. They ensured all depositors, including those holding uninsured funds exceeding $250,000, were protected by federal deposit insurance.

The Justice Department and the Securities and Exchange Commission have since launched investigations into the Silicon Valley Bank collapse.

Thursday�s hearing is meant to address President Joe Biden�s budget proposal, but it comes after the sudden collapse of the nation�s 16th-biggest bank and go-to financial institution for tech entrepreneurs. While Yellen will be prepared to talk about spending proposals, the hearing will inevitably turn to the government�s decision-making process to intervene in the bank failure.

Lawmakers will likely question whether the money committed to make depositors whole is a bailout, the degree to which taxpayers will be on the hook for the intervention and the possibility of new regulation impacting the banking system.

Yellen said on CBS� �Face the Nation� last Sunday that a bailout was not on the table, stating, �we�re not going to do that again,� referring to the U.S. government�s response to the 2008 financial crisis, which led to massive government rescue policies to large U.S. banks.

Yellen, a former Federal Reserve chair and past president of the San Francisco Federal Reserve during the 2008 financial crisis, was a leading figure in the resolution this past weekend, which was engineered to prevent a wider systemic problem in the banking sector.

�This week�s actions demonstrate our resolute commitment to ensure that depositors� savings remain safe,� she says in her Thursday testimony.

(AP)