Sen. John Kennedy, R-La., declared Thursday that he will withhold his vote for President Donald Trump's nominee to lead the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation until the agency provides a detailed account of how it has addressed widespread workplace misconduct.
Kennedy's move puts Travis Hill, the current acting chair of the FDIC, on uncertain footing in the Senate Banking Committee, potentially threatening his path to full confirmation.
During a committee hearing with Hill on Thursday, Kennedy expressed frustration that Hill had not yet furnished a report outlining steps taken to investigate and discipline employees accused of sexual harassment, discrimination, and other misconduct.
"If your name came up in front of me right now, I wouldn't vote for you," Kennedy told Hill.
The senator demanded the report within 30 days, warning, "Otherwise, you can forget about my vote."
If Democrats on the panel unite against Hill, his nomination may stall out of committee.
Hill, who served previously as FDIC vice chair and senior policy adviser, said that he is "fully committed" to reforming the agency's culture and pointed to new anti-harassment training and updated complaint processes. He told lawmakers the agency is working to implement the changes and pledged to deliver the requested report.
Hill is widely supported by banking trade groups, but the nomination remains politically fraught because of the broader culture scandal.
In May 2024, the FDIC released a third-party review conducted by law firm Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton, which found that for "far too many employees and for far too long" the agency "failed to provide a workplace safe from sexual harassment, discrimination, and other interpersonal misconduct."
More than 500 current and former employees contributed to the review. The report faulted management's responses to allegations as "insufficient and ineffective," noting a patriarchal, insular culture that allowed misconduct to persist.
A follow-on report from the agency's Office of Inspector General found that more than one-third of employees surveyed had either experienced or witnessed harassment, and that disciplinary decisions were inconsistently documented and poorly tracked.
The culture probe followed earlier public reports of bullying, inappropriate conduct, and favoritism at the FDIC under former Chair Martin Gruenberg, who ultimately announced he would resign once a successor was confirmed.
Theodore Bunker ✉
Theodore Bunker, a Newsmax writer, has more than a decade covering news, media, and politics.
© 2025 Newsmax. All rights reserved.