Kay Granger

Kay Granger
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Texas's 12th district
Incumbent
Assumed office January 3, 1997
Preceded by	Pete Geren
41st Mayor of Fort Worth, Texas
In office 1991–1996
Preceded by	Bob Bolen
Succeeded by	Kenneth Barr
Personal details
Born	(1943-01-18) January 18, 1943 Greenville, Texas
Political party	Republican
Residence	Fort Worth, Texas
Alma mater	Texas Wesleyan University
Occupation	high school teacher, financial executive
Religion	Methodist

Kay Granger (born January 18, 1943), a Republican politician from the U.S. state of Texas, currently represents the 12th congressional district in the U.S. House of Representatives, the first Republican woman to represent Texas in the House.

Biography and career

Granger was born in Greenville, Texas, and grew up in Fort Worth, Texas, where she attended Eastern Hills High School, which recognized her as Distinguished Eastern Hills High School Graduate in 1993. She graduated from Texas Wesleyan University. She was elected to the Fort Worth city council in 1989 and was elected Mayor in 1991. Her tenure as mayor saw a drop in violent crime

After the retirement of Congressman Pete Geren in 1996, both the Democratic and Republican parties worked to recruit Granger. Republicans were particularly bullish on their chances of winning the 12th. It had once been represented by Democratic Speaker of the House Jim Wright, but had been made significantly more affluent and Republican after the 1990 census. Granger made the decision to run as a Republican, much to the dismay of local GOP activists, who criticized Granger as being too liberal. She was elected by a wide margin, taking 56 percent of the vote over the Democrat Hugh Parmer, also a former Fort Worth mayor. She was handily reelected in 1998 and has only faced serious opposition once—in 2000. In 2008, Granger defeated Democratic challenger Tracey Smith with 67 percent of the vote.

In 2006, Granger was reelected to serve her sixth term in Congress. She was also elected Conference Vice Chair, the fourth-ranking position among House Republicans, in November 2006. She is currently Chairwoman of the House Appropriations Subcommitee on State-Foreign Operations. She also sits on the United States House Committee on Appropriations's Subcommittee on Defense (the first woman to do so), and the Labor, Health, Human Services, and Education Subcommittee. She has served as a House Deputy Whip also while in Congress.

Granger is the author of the book, What's Right About America, Celebrating Our Nation's Values.

In August 2007, Kay Granger Elementary School opened in far north Fort Worth in the Northwest Independent School District. A school named for Granger's mother - Mullendore Elementary - was opened several years earlier in North Richland Hills, Texas. The adjacent Kay Granger Park is maintained by the city.

On September 25, 2007, she publicly endorsed former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney in the primary race for the Republican Party presidential nomination. She also took up the position of national co-chair of the campaign organization Women for Mitt, filling a vacancy left by the death of Jennifer Dunn. In a statement to the press following her endorsement, she said that she had heard Romney speak and that "I agreed with everything he said, in the order he said it."

She is a member of the Board of Directors of the International Republican Institute. She is also a member of the Council on Foreign Relations.

Granger is pro-choice.

Congressional committee assignments

• Committee on Appropriations
  • Subcommittee on Defense
  • Subcommittee on State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs (Chairwoman)
  • Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies

Caucus memberships

• Anti-Terrorism Caucus (Co-Chair)
• International Conservation Caucus
• Iraqi Women's Caucus (Co-Chair)
• Sportsmen's Caucus
• Congressional Arts Caucus

Ideology and voting record

Her own website posts an article from "Conservative Quarterly" that calls her "a dependable vote for the leadership on most issues." She is also a member of the conservative Republican Study Committee.

Kay Granger campaign sign in the Fort Worth Stockyards

In 2003, Granger was given a 10 percent rating by NARAL and an 84 percent rating by the Christian Coalition of America.

Granger has also voted several times in favor of an amendment to the United States Constitution to make it a crime to physically desecrate the American flag. She also supports the Federal Marriage Amendment.

She was easily renominated in the March 2, 2010, Republican primary, having polled 70 percent of the ballots over intraparty rivals Mike Brasovan and Matthew E. Kelly.

Interest Group Ratings: In many of the ratings of interest groups that are there, Rep. Granger has the larger percentage in typically conservative groups. For example, in the interest groups of Concerned Women for America and the Christian Coalition of America her ratings were higher. In contrast, groups such as the School Nutrition Association and the Peace Action had much lower support ratings from the Representative.

Recent Votes: For representative Granger her recent votes are as follows: -Nov. 18th, 2011 In a proposed Balanced Budget Amendment (and her most recent vote), she voted for the amendment. -Nov. 16th, 2011 In the National Right to Carry Act she also voted in favor of the act. -Nov. 3rd, 2011 In the Public Disclosure of Bonuses and Golden Parachute bill, she voted against it.

In the house overall, the November 18th bill failed in the house while both the bills on November 16 and 3 were both approved.

In 2012, after chairman of the Taiwanese defense committee Lin Yu-fang rejected calls for more F-16 fighters and said that only the F-35 could ensure Taiwan's security, Granger offered a NDAA amendment that passed the House to offer only the much older F-16 fighter to Taiwan.

During her tenure, Granger has supported over $50 million in earmarks to infrastructure projects in Fort Worth, Texas that benefited the Trinity River Vision Authority, an organization headed by her son.

External links

• U.S. Congresswoman Kay Granger official U.S. House site
• Kay Granger for U.S. Congress official campaign site
• Biography at the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress
• Congressional profile at GovTrack
• Congressional profile at OpenCongress
• Financial information (federal office) at the Federal Election Commission
• Financial information (federal office) at OpenSecrets.org
• Staff salaries, trips and personal finance (federal office) at LegiStorm.com
• Issue positions and quotes at On the Issues
• Voting record at The Washington Post
• Appearances on C-SPAN programs
• Profile at SourceWatch

Political offices
Preceded by Bob Bolen	Mayor of Fort Worth, Texas 1991–1995	Succeeded by Jewel Woods
United States House of Representatives
Preceded by Pete Geren	Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Texas's 12th congressional district 1997–Present	Succeeded by Incumbent
United States order of precedence
Preceded by Diana DeGette D-Colorado	United States Representatives by seniority 93rd	Succeeded by Rubén Hinojosa D-Texas
Party political offices
Preceded by Jack Kingston Georgia	Vice-Chairman of House Republican Conference 2007–2009	Succeeded by Cathy McMorris Rodgers Washington