"I am so tired of white men failing up": Ayanna Pressley slams FDIC Chair Martin Gruenberg for sexual misconduct report.

Rep. Ayanna Pressley on Wednesday slammed Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation Chair Martin Gruenberg for a report that detailed rampant sexual misconduct and discrimination at the agency.

The Massachusetts Democrat criticized the lack of women represented on the panel of financial regulators at a House Financial Services Committee hearing, and shared her concerns for the hundreds of women at the FDIC who experienced harassment with no recourse.

“For over a decade, the FDIC, under your leadership and your predecessors, ignored them,” Pressley said. “Chair Gruenberg in November … you stated that the FDIC already has ‘appropriate policies and procedures in place.’ Do you now agree ... that the policies and procedures in place have been a cataclysmic failure and an affront to the many women who have been harassed, pushed out of the FDIC, and forced to change their career goals and life trajectory?”

“They have failed, yes,” Gruenberg replied.“'Small,' 'ashamed,' 'traumatized,' 'humiliated,' 'alone' — these are just a few of the words to describe the intense feelings of sexual harassment and what survivors endure,” the congresswoman said, noting that the FDIC’s own reporting showed that more than 80% of harassment complaints resulted in zero discipline, and in cases where there was, none resulted in discipline more serious than a temporary suspension.

“I am so tired of white men failing up. This lack of accountability is shameful, inadequate, and deeply unsatisfactory, and it is retraumatizing,” Pressley said.