In a statement, Waters blasted a third-party investigation of sexual harassment and misconduct at the FDIC, while arguing it focuses disproportionately the agency’s current Democratic leader and not enough on his Republican predecessors.
While Waters acknowledged cultural deficiencies at the FDIC, she also said the report “places the focus for ‘tone at the top’ solely on the Democratic chair under whose leadership the agency received the most favorable ratings from its employees, while it completely ignores the activities of the two previous Republican Chairs.”
Her support for Gruenberg puts her at odds with some of her colleagues on the House Financial Services Committee, notably Rep. Bill Foster (D-Ill.), the top Democrat on the Financial Institutions subcommittee.
Foster called for Gruenberg’s resignation earlier this week, saying that he was “appalled” and “deeply disturbed” by the accounts of widespread sexual harassment and discrimination documented in the report by law firm Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton.
Numerous Republican lawmakers in both the House and Senate have already called for the departure of Gruenberg, a 20-year veteran of the FDIC who has held multiple positions within the agency.
Sexual harassment and a culture of intimidation have been problems at the FDIC for years, documented as far back as 2014 in a report by the regulator’s inspector general published in 2020.
The Hill’s Tobias Burns has the latest here.
