Kay Granger

Kay Granger
Vice Chairperson of the House Republican Conference
In office January 3, 2007 – January 3, 2009
Leader	John Boehner
Preceded by	Jack Kingston
Succeeded by	Cathy McMorris Rodgers
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
In office May 21, 1991 – December 19, 1995
Preceded by	Bob Bolen
Succeeded by	Jewell Woods (Acting)
Personal details
Born	(1943-01-18) January 18, 1943 Greenville, Texas, U.S.
Political party	Republican
Alma mater	Texas Wesleyan University
Religion	Methodism

Kay Granger (born Norvell Kay Mullendore on January 18, 1943)^[1] is a Republican politician from the U.S. state of Texas, representing its 12th congressional district in the U.S. House of Representatives. A former teacher and businesswoman, she is the first Republican woman to represent Texas in the U.S. House. After serving on the zoning commission of Fort Worth, Texas, in 1991 she was elected as the city's first woman mayor, serving two terms to 1995.

Biography and career

Granger was born in Greenville, Texas, and grew up in Fort Worth. She attended local public schools and Eastern Hills High School.^[2] She graduated from Texas Wesleyan University.

Granger taught high school English and journalism for several years and became familiar with many issues in the community. In 1978 she decided to establish her own insurance agency, which she operated for years. Deciding to become active in local politics, Granger was elected to the Fort Worth Zoning Commission. she was elected to the city council in 1989. She was elected Mayor in 1991 in a non-partisan election as the first woman mayor of the city.

After Congressman Pete Geren announced he would retire in 1996, both the Democratic and Republican parties worked to recruit Granger to run for his seat. Republicans were bullish on their chances of winning Texas' 12th congressional district. It had once been represented by Democratic Speaker of the House Jim Wright, but legislative redistricting after the 1990 census had added areas with more Republican residents.

Granger decided to run as a Republican, much to the dismay of local GOP activists, who criticized her as being too liberal. She won handily, taking 56 percent of the vote over the Democrat Hugh Parmer, also a former Fort Worth mayor. She was reelected in 1998 and faced serious opposition only in 2000. In 2008, Granger defeated Democratic challenger Tracey Smith with 67 percent of the vote.

In 2006 Granger published a book, What's Right About America, Celebrating Our Nation's Values, reflecting on lessons from prominent figures of United States history.

That year, she was reelected to her sixth term in Congress. She was elected as Conference Vice Chair, the fourth-ranking position among House Republicans, in November 2006. She is 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 also served as a House Deputy Whip.

On September 25, 2007, she publicly endorsed former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney in the primary race for the Republican Party presidential nomination.^[3] 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.^[4] 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.^[5] and Southwestern University. She is also a member of the Council on Foreign Relations.

Congressional committee assignments

• Committee on Appropriations
  • Subcommittee on Defense (Vice-Chairwoman)
  • Subcommittee on State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs (Chairwoman)
  • Subcommittee on Transportation, Housing and Urban Development

Caucus memberships

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

Ideology and voting record

Kay Granger campaign sign in the Fort Worth Stockyards

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

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

Granger has 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 supports the Federal Marriage Amendment to define marriage as only permitted between a man and a woman.

She was renominated in the March 2, 2010, Republican primary, having polled 70 percent of the ballots over intraparty rivals Mike Brasovan and Matthew E. Kelly.^[6]

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,^[7] Granger offered a NDAA amendment, which passed the House, to offer only the much older F-16 fighter to Taiwan.^[8][9]

In June 2013, Granger was among the members of Congress who voted to pass an amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2014. The amendment would continue to restrict the Pentagon from entering into new contracts with Russia’s state arms broker Rosoboronexport.^[10]

During her tenure, Granger has supported more than $50 million in earmarks to infrastructure projects in Fort Worth, Texas that benefited the Trinity River Vision Authority, an organization headed by her son.^[11]

Kaptur Amendment voted down

On May 29, 2014, the Appropriations Committee in the U.S. House of Representatives marked up the agriculture funding bill for Fiscal Year 2015. That bill included a provision known as the GIPSA rider (Grain Inspection Packers and Stockyards Act), which prohibited USDA from using any money to implement rules authorized in the 2008 Farm Bill to protect chicken farmers from industry retaliation.

The USDA rule in question was developed over a six-year period, during which time USDA held numerous public forums and interviewed many farmers, processors and others. The final rule was designed by USDA to protect poultry, cattle and pig farmers from industry retaliation if they spoke out, and to ensure the farmers would have standing when negotiating contracts with large industrial meat-processing companies.

Rep. Marcy Kaptur (D-Ohio) proposed two amendments during the markup in an effort to remove some or all of the GIPSA rider and allow USDA to enforce the 2008 Farm Bill protections authorized in law. The first amendment she proposed attempted to remove the entire GIPSA rider, which is referred to here as section 730 of the bill. That amendment was declined. The second amendment focused specifically on allowing USDA enforcement of protections of farmers’ right to speak about their conditions without fear of retaliation. Rep. Kaptur noted several examples of this kind of retaliation. That amendment was also declined.

The following Republican members from Texas voted against these Kaptur amendments: Kay Granger, John Abney Culbersons, and John R. Carter.

http://www.kaptur.house.gov/index.php/news-15011/articles-70036/3410-rep-marcy-kaptur-amendments-protecting-farmers-from-industry-retaliation

Personal life

Granger has three children and five grandchildren.^[12]

Honors

• In August 2007, Kay Granger Elementary School, named in her honor, opened in far north Fort Worth in the Northwest Independent School District.
• Kay Granger Park was named for her. It is a city park located next to Mullendore Elementary, named for her mother, which was opened several years earlier in North Richland Hills, Texas.
• She was elected to the Texas Women’s Hall of Fame and the Fort Worth Business Hall of Fame.
• She received the National Federation of Independent Business’ Champion of Small Business Award; the Manufacturing Legislative Excellence Award from the National Association of Manufacturers; as well as the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Greater Fort Worth Home Builders Association.
• In 1993 her high school recognized Granger as a distinguished alumnus.^[2]

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Kay Granger.

• Congresswoman Kay Granger official U.S. House site
• Kay Granger for Congress
• Kay Granger at DMOZ
• Appearances on C-SPAN
• Biography at the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress
• Profile at Project Vote Smart
• Financial information (federal office) at the Federal Election Commission
• Legislation sponsored at The Library of Congress
• Profile at the Texas Tribune