[Congressional Record Volume 170, Number 87 (Monday, May 20, 2024)]
[Senate]
[Pages S3769-S3771]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                                  FDIC

  Mr. KENNEDY. Madam President, with me today is a current member of my 
staff, one of my colleagues, Mr. Josh Dunn.
  I want to talk, Madam President, about a topic I hate to talk about. 
It is very unpleasant, but it is necessary that we talk about this. 
Some of my colleagues want it to go away, but it is not going away.
  I thought that we had all agreed that sexual predators and bigots are 
not welcome in America's workplaces. We have all heard of the #MeToo 
movement. The #MeToo movement, President Biden endorsed it. Many of my 
colleagues have actively supported it, as have I. The #MeToo movement 
reminds us all that America is no place for creepy old men who sexually 
harass and demean their employees. I thought we had agreed to that.
  I don't remember seeing any exceptions in the #MeToo movement for 
President Biden's appointees to the Federal Deposit Insurance 
Corporation. We call it the FDIC. There is not supposed to be a carve-
out for bigots and perverts at the FDIC to harass their coworkers when 
they are supposed to be regulating America's banks.
  So why hasn't--why hasn't President Biden shown FDIC Chairman, Mr. 
Martin Gruenberg, and his leadership team the door? Why hasn't he fired 
them?
  Based on the latest report from the Agency, not a single Biden 
appointee should keep his or her job at the FDIC.
  Now, Mr. Gruenberg released a statement a few minutes ago. He didn't 
say he resigned. He said he is prepared to resign as soon as his 
successor is confirmed by the U.S. Senate. In the meantime, he is going 
to continue on as FDIC Chairman. It triggers my gag reflex.
  I mentioned this report. This report, 234 pages, it was done by a law 
firm called Cleary Gottlieb at the request of the FDIC. The FDIC and 
Mr. Gruenberg were forced to ask for this report because the Wall 
Street Journal published a series of articles about the sexcapades at 
the FDIC, and the FDIC leadership was forced to respond.
  Cleary Gottlieb issued this report. I was very suspect at first 
because Mr. Gruenberg and others had picked Cleary Gottlieb to do it. 
But after the report has been issued and I have had a chance to read 
it, it is clear to me the law firm--as it should have--pulled no 
punches.
  The report tells us that nearly 1 in 10 employees--1 in 10--at the 
FDIC has experienced sexual harassment, racial discrimination, verbal 
abuse, or other inappropriate behavior while working at the Agency.
  I want you to listen to this. I hate to have to say it, but I want 
the American people to understand what has been going on under Mr. 
Gruenberg's leadership at the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation.
  This is what the report told us: One Hispanic employee told 
investigators with the Cleary Gottlieb law firm that his FDIC 
supervisor made him recite the Pledge of Allegiance at work to ``prove 
that they were American.'' Another FDIC employee reported that her 
supervisor told her ``You're a mother. You don't belong in the 
workplace.''
  The report goes on. One senior FDIC official who had a reputation for 
visiting brothels during his work trips--isn't that special--sent his 
coworker a photograph of his penis.
  Another senior FDIC official, who allegedly was thrown out of a strip 
club during a work trip because he groped the dancers, this official, 
the same day,

[[Page S3770]]

asked his female coworker ``Does your husband eat you?''
  An FDIC field officer pursued sexual relationships with several 
female employees, including a student intern. Another employee reported 
that a former FDIC executive ``grabbed her and rubbed himself on her 
after a happy hour.'' My God.
  One female employee recounted more than 6 years of persistent sexual 
harassment from a senior FDIC bank examiner. She said the examiner 
continuously sent her disturbing text messages, including one that said 
``get naked Bitch.'' The employee said the behavior bordered on the 
edge of stalking. You think?
  Look, I could go on for hours here. I am not sure my stomach can 
stand it.
  In total, there are 6,000 workers at the FDIC. In total, more than 
500 reported misconduct by their bosses--creepy old men. They reported 
145 incidents of sexual harassment; 436 reports of gender-, sexuality-, 
or race-based discrimination; and 320 incidents of verbal abuse and 
bullying.
  The investigators in this report noted that many of these employees 
had never previously reported the harassment because the employees at 
the FDIC had a real and widespread fear of retaliation from the 
Agency's management.
  The FDIC employees who did report, through the years, who did report 
their harassment to the Agency, quickly realized that it was a mistake 
and a waste of time.
  From 2015 to 2023, 92 brave employees directly reported incidents and 
instances of harassment or abuse to the Agency. Good for them. The 
management at the FDIC didn't fire or demote or dock the pay of a 
single creep because of these reports. In fact, the FDIC often punished 
the victims rather than the predators. They would move the victims from 
the victim's job, not the predator.
  The predator got to stay. The victims were moved. It didn't matter if 
they were experienced. It didn't matter if the victim enjoyed his or 
her job. They had to move because a creep was molesting them.
  In fact, when a male examiner called his colleague ``a grizzly bear 
with tits,'' the FDIC relocated the woman instead of the man who made 
the comment.
  Again, I am sorry to do this, but I am just reciting the details of 
just eight of the hundreds of reports of harassment at the FDIC.
  Now, FDIC Chairman Mr. Martin Gruenberg has been a top official at 
the FDIC for two decades, as the FDIC has devolved into what apparently 
is a hellscape for its employees. Mr. Gruenberg has been Chairman of 
the FDIC for 10 of the last 13 years. He started at the Agency in 2005.
  Mr. Gruenberg didn't just supervise the harassment at the FDIC. 
According to the report, he participated in it. According to Mr. 
Gruenberg's employees, Chairman Gruenberg repeatedly ``disrespected, 
disparaged, and mistreated'' his staff--not the predators but his staff 
that was trying to help him manage the Agency. According to the report, 
Mr. Gruenberg would berate them, threaten to fire them, participate in 
``embarrassing and inappropriate'' group chats with them and throw 
temper tantrums; or he would throw papers his staff prepared for him 
against the wall.
  One of his loyal staff members told investigators: In my entire 
career of 35 years--in my entire career of 35 years--I have never had 
anybody treat me like that.
  Reports of Chairman Gruenberg's abusive behavior ranged from 2007 to 
just last year, showing that he has been a menace to his employees for 
just about as long as anyone can remember. Yet when my friends in the 
House of Representatives asked him if he had ever been formally accused 
of abuse, do you know what he said? He seemed to forget he was the 
target of an abuse allegation. He said: ``No.'' He had to go back and 
later correct the record to confirm that he was.
  Mr. Gruenberg didn't just struggle with holding himself responsible 
for bad behavior, but he also refused to hold others accountable too. 
He even handpicked a known abuser. He picked one of these creepy old 
men, someone whose outburst had cost the FDIC more than 100,000 bucks 
in a settlement, for a key promotion to serve as the FDIC's general 
counsel.
  Employees told investigators that they expect Chairman Gruenberg's 
leadership team to ``pay, promote, or move'' the serial predators 
within the FDIC. It is all in the report.
  Mr. Gruenberg has not once--not once--taken responsibility for his 
failed leadership. He said he was sorry, but he has never taken 
responsibility. When he was speaking with the investigators who 
compiled this report, Mr. Gruenberg denied every single, solitary 
allegation.
  Now, the role of the investigators was not to advise the FDIC about 
whether Mr. Gruenberg and his leadership team should resign. But if you 
read the report--200-plus pages--it is clear what they think. The 
investigators said: Mr. Gruenberg's ``apparent inability or 
unwillingness to recognize how others experience certain difficult 
interactions with him'' would make it difficult--I would use the word 
``impossible''--for him to restore the FDIC to something that resembles 
a respectable workplace.
  Chairman Gruenberg is far from the only bad apple at the FDIC. That 
much is clear from the report. Not everyone is a bad apple at the FDIC. 
There are employees who are very good employees there, but not all of 
them. And they have been getting away with this for years.
  In my opinion, after you read this report, you would conclude that 
everyone in senior management either knew of the gross, disgusting, and 
bigoted behavior and did nothing, or they have proven themselves to be 
such incompetent leaders that they don't deserve to oversee a pet 
goldfish, much less a Federal Agency.
  If the executives at the FDIC had any sense of decency, they would 
resign today, not issue some weeny statement that ``Yeah, I know things 
are bad at the FDIC, and I will consider resigning as soon as the 
Senate confirms my successor, but I am going to continue in the 
meantime.''
  That is the statement that Mr. Gruenberg issued. And do you know what 
we have heard out of the Biden White House? Nothing. Zero. Zilch. Nada.
  If I could fire Mr. Gruenberg, I would. But the only person who can 
fire Mr. Gruenberg is President Biden. Yet no one at the White House 
wants to talk about this. No one seems interested in firing Chairman 
Gruenberg or demanding his resignation, and President Biden won't even 
address it. He sent a spokeswoman out to suggest that President Biden 
has not fired Mr. Gruenberg because Chairman Gruenberg apologized and 
has committed to the recommendations that have been provided by the 
independent report.
  Let me get this straight. Chairman Gruenberg is going to implement 
the recommendations, which investigated the abuse while he was chairman 
of the FDIC.
  Let's take a look at a few of the recommended changes that President 
Biden thinks Chairman Gruenberg is qualified to implement. One 
recommendation that the report includes says that the FDIC must work to 
protect the victims of sexual harassment, discrimination, and bullying.
  Do you think?
  How is Mr. Gruenberg, who issued a statement today, saying, ``Well, I 
might resign as soon as the Senate confirms my successor''--how is Mr. 
Gruenberg, who has proven for more than two decades that he has no 
interest in protecting his employees--supposed to get that job done? He 
won't even admit that he is a bully. How does the White House think he 
is going to recognize and deter other bullies and predators?
  Another recommendation in the report is to enact a culture 
transformation--a culture transformation--within the FDIC. The 
investigators recommended that the Board of the FDIC hire an individual 
to oversee this transformation.
  I thought that is why we had a Chairman. I thought that is why we had 
a Chairman. If Mr. Gruenberg's past hiring decisions are any 
indication, he and the Board will probably promote the Agency's top 
pervert to the post.
  The most important recommendation the investigators made, in my view, 
is that the FDIC must hold leadership accountable for their harassment. 
Does President Biden really believe--does he really believe--that 
Chairman

[[Page S3771]]

Gruenberg is going to hold himself accountable? Are the dozens of 
creepy old men that the Chairman has protected for two decades?
  Put down the bong.
  Wouldn't firing Mr. Gruenberg and every other bigot or predator and 
senior management at the FDIC be the obvious first step in holding 
leadership accountable for this abuse?
  As one employee put it, allowing Mr. Gruenberg to oversee 
improvements to the FDIC's culture is like ``foxes guarding the 
henhouse.''
  I would put it another way. It is like asking Alec Baldwin to teach a 
course on gun safety.
  Mr. Gruenberg and every single member of senior management ought to 
hide their heads in a bag. The #MeToo movement ought to mean something. 
And, frankly, the White House should hide its head in a bag.
  I don't read an exception to moral order in the #MeToo movement for 
the FDIC because Mr. Gruenberg happens to be of a particular party--the 
same party as the President's.
  These folks ought to quit, and they ought to quit today. And if they 
don't, President Biden should fire them. Anything short of firing them 
will show that President Biden condones this behavior.
  The FDIC employees--and there are many good ones--are only 
responsible for making sure that our banks are secure in the wealthiest 
and most powerful country in all of human history. Those FDIC employees 
deserve a professional workplace. They deserve a workplace where they 
can do their jobs with dignity. And young women don't deserve to be 
sexually harassed and sent pictures of their boss's genitals. The 
taxpayers deserve this too, and the banks being examined deserve this 
as well.
  You know, when President Biden took office, in 2021, I remember in 
one of his press conferences--I don't know how the subject came up, but 
the subject of appropriate workplace conduct came up--President Biden 
correctly said that he would fire on the spot any appointee who 
disrespected other members of his staff. Those are the President's 
words: ``on the spot.'' And he told his appointees that he expected 
them to do the same.
  The evidence is plentiful that Chairman Gruenberg disrespected his 
staff and allowed a toxic culture to bloom at the FDIC. He should 
resign. He should resign immediately. It is time to clean house at the 
Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from New Hampshire.
  Mrs. SHAHEEN. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that Senator 
Hassan and I both be allowed to finish our remarks before the scheduled 
vote.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.