Rep. Kay Granger, R-Texas, has been residing in a retirement facility, a supply informed Fox News on Sunday. The supply additionally denied an area information report that stated she was in a reminiscence care facility.
Granger, who’s retiring on the finish of this congressional term, has largely remained absent from the Capitol in latest months, having final solid votes on July 24. She was not current for over 54% of votes this yr.
The Dallas Express investigated the 81-year-old congresswoman’s absence, publishing a report on Friday that quoted a constituent of her district who stated that Granger was residing in a reminiscence care facility in Texas. The report was later picked up by different information retailers.
Fox News spoke with a supply from Granger’s workplace who denied that Granger was in a reminiscence care unit. The supply informed Fox News that Granger is in a retirement facility the place reminiscence care is supplied, although not within the reminiscence care unit itself.
HOUSE PASSES FUNDING BILL WITH JUST HOURS UNTIL GOVERNMENT SHUTDOWN
Rep. Kay Granger, R-Texas, leaves the House Republicans caucus assembly on the Capitol Hill Club in Washington on Wednesday, May 10, 2023. (Bill Clark/CQ-Roll Call, Inc by way of Getty Images)
Granger launched an announcement to Fox News, saying that she has confronted “health challenges” and is “deeply grateful for the outpouring of care and concern” over the weekend.
“As lots of my household, pals, and colleagues have recognized, I’ve been navigating some unexpected well being challenges over the previous yr,” Granger stated within the assertion. “However, since early September, my well being challenges have progressed making frequent journey to Washington each troublesome and unpredictable. During this time, my unbelievable workers has remained steadfast, persevering with to ship distinctive constituent companies, as they’ve for the previous 27 years.”
Rep. Kay Granger, R-Texas, speaks throughout a information convention with different Republican members of the House of Representatives on the Capitol on July 21, 2020, in Washington, D.C. (Samuel Corum/Getty Images)
Granger, who didn’t search reelection for the approaching time period, has served within the House since 1997. She beforehand served as the primary feminine mayor of Fort Worth, Texas.
While Granger seems to not have solid a vote since July, she did return to the Capitol in November for the revealing of her portrait as Appropriations Committee Chairwoman, and a reception that adopted. House Speaker Johnson and House Majority Leader Steve Scalise each spoke on the occasion.
One senior Republican supply informed Fox News that Granger didn’t step down earlier because of the paper-thin GOP House majority.
“Frankly, we would have liked the numbers,” the supply informed Fox News.
The slim majority presents a problem for the speaker of the 119th Congress, by which vote attendance could possibly be the distinction between success or defeat for Republicans.
Fox News reached out to Johnson’s workplace for remark.
Granger’s lengthy absence was blasted by Rep. Ro Khanna, D-Calif., in a submit on X.
“Kay Granger’s lengthy absence reveals the issue with a Congress that rewards seniority & relationships greater than benefit & concepts,” he wrote. “We have a sclerotic gerontocracy. We want time period limits. We have to get massive cash out of politics so a brand new technology of Americans can run and serve.”
Khanna was one of many few lawmakers who beforehand criticized what he known as the “gerontocracy.” In May 2023, he referred to as on Democratic Rep. Dianne Feinstein, who was then aged 89, to step down as her personal well being points saved her away from the Capitol. Feinstein died months later in September 2023.
