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Kay Granger
Ranking Member of the House Appropriations Committee
Incumbent
Assumed office January 3, 2019
Preceded by	Nita Lowey
Vice Chair 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	Norvell Kay Mullendore (1943-01-18) January 18, 1943 (age 81) Greenville, Texas, U.S.
Political party	Republican
Children	3
Education	Texas Wesleyan University (BA)

Norvell Kay Granger (née Mullendore; born January 18, 1943) is an American 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. 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 Subcommittee 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. 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. and Southwestern University. She is also a member of the Council on Foreign Relations.

Congressional committee assignments

• Committee on Appropriations (Ranking Member)
  • Subcommittee on Defense
  • Subcommittee on State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs
  • Subcommittee on Energy and Water Development

Caucus memberships

• Anti-Terrorism Caucus (Co-Chair)
• United States Congressional International Conservation Caucus
• Iraqi Women's Caucus (Co-Chair)
• Sportsmen's Caucus
• Congressional Arts Caucus
• U.S.-Japan Caucus
• House Baltic Caucus
• Congressional NextGen 9-1-1 Caucus

Ideology and voting record

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. The Washington Post described her as being a socially centrist, but fiscally conservative, by supporting tax cuts and balanced budgets, Republican. Heritage Action, a conservative political action committee (PAC), gave her a score of 59 percent conservative during the 115th Congress and a 57 percent lifetime conservative score. In 2017, the Americans for Democratic Action, a liberal PAC, gave her a 15 percent rating. In 2013, the National Journal, a non-partisan organization, gave Granger a composite political ideology score of 73 percent conservative and 27 percent liberal.

Rep. Granger has described herself, in a 2007 interview with MSNBC, as "a pro-choice Republican." The Wall Street Journal reported that Rep. Granger "supports abortion rights in limited cases." In 2003, Granger was given a 10 percent rating by NARAL Pro-Choice America, "indicating a pro-life voting record," and an 80 percent rating in 2006 from the National Right to Life Committee (NRLC) "indicating a mixed record on abortion." In 1996, she was considered to be "pro-choice." In 2008, she received a 33 percent rating from Planned Parenthood, which supports legal abortion, a 50 percent in 2008 from National Family Planning & Reproductive Health Association, which supports legal abortion, and her highest score from NARAL was a 50 percent in 2007, but she has received a 0 percent from Planned Parenthood in the years since 2009. Granger supports embryonic stem-cell research. She received an 84 percent rating by the Christian Coalition of America. Granger supported a Texas law to ban abortion after 20 weeks of pregnancy. In 2019, she co-signed a letter to President Trump, along with other lawmakers, urging him to veto any appropriations bill that weakens current pro-life protections.

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 supported the Federal Marriage Amendment to define marriage as only permitted between a man and a woman in 2004, and she also opposed same-sex couples being able to adopt. In 2017, she said that she had "no comment" in response to President Trump's decision to ban transgender troops from the military. Since 2004, she has received a 0 percent rating from the Human Rights Campaign, a political action committee which supports gay marriage and other LGBT rights, and her highest score from the organization was a 38% in 1997 and 1998. In 2016, she co-authored a spending bill that included funding for LGBT rights initiatives and the HRC publicly thanked her for her sponsorship.

The National Rifle Association (NRA), which supports gun ownership rights, gave Granger a rating of 93 percent for voting in line with their positions while Gun Owners of America, which also supports the rights of gun owners, gave her a 50 percent rating.

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.

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, which passed the House, to offer only the much older F-16 fighter to Taiwan.

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.

Granger was part of a group of eight Republicans who spent July 4, 2018 meeting with Russian officials in advance of President Trump's summit with Vladimir Putin.

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

Personal life

Granger has three children and five grandchildren. She is a member of The United Methodist Church.

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.
• 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.

See also

• Women in the United States House of Representatives

References

1. Texas Department of State Health Services, Texas Birth Index, 1903-1997, roll number: 1943_0008
2. ^ Kay Granger, USA Centers for Global Commercial & Investment Relations. Retrieved October 25, 2007. Archived July 17, 2011, at the Wayback Machine
3. "Mitt Romney's Free and Strong America PAC". Mittromney.com. November 9, 2009. Archived from the original on February 15, 2008. Retrieved August 29, 2010. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
4. Granger endorses Romney and will co-chair Women for Mitt | Dallas Morning News | News for Dallas, Texas | Dallas-Fort Worth Politics | The Dallas Morning News Archived October 3, 2008, at the Wayback Machine
5. International Republican Institute web site, accessed July 16, 2010. Archived April 28, 2010, at the Wayback Machine
6. "Chairman Frelinghuysen Announces GOP Subcommittee Memberships for the 115th Congress | Committee on Appropriations, U.S. House of Representatives". appropriations.house.gov. Retrieved May 16, 2018.
7. "Our Members". U.S. House of Representatives International Conservation Caucus. Archived from the original on August 1, 2018. Retrieved August 2, 2018. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |dead-url= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
8. "Membership". Congressional Arts Caucus. Archived from the original on June 12, 2018. Retrieved March 21, 2018. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |dead-url= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
9. "Members". U.S. - Japan Caucus. Retrieved December 11, 2018.
10. "Members". House Baltic Caucus. Retrieved February 21, 2018.
11. "Members". Congressional NextGen 9-1-1 Caucus. Retrieved June 8, 2018.
12. "Member List". Republican Study Committee. Retrieved December 21, 2017.
13. "Kay Granger (R-Tex.)". The Washington Post. {{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |dead-url= (help)
14. America, Heritage Action For (April 20, 2019). "https://heritageaction.com/scorecard/members". Heritage Action For America. Retrieved April 21, 2019. {{cite web}}: External link in |title= (help)
15. "The Voter's Self Defense System". Vote Smart. Retrieved April 21, 2019.
16. "The Voter's Self Defense System". Vote Smart. Retrieved April 21, 2019.
17. "The Voter's Self Defense System". Vote Smart. Retrieved April 14, 2019.
18. "The Voter's Self Defense System". Vote Smart. September 25, 2007. Retrieved April 27, 2019. {{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |dead-url= (help)
19. "Kay Granger - Candidate for U.S. President, Republican Nomination - Election 2012". WSJ.com. Retrieved April 15, 2019.
20. "Kay Granger on Abortion". www.ontheissues.org. Retrieved April 14, 2019.
21. "AllPolitics - Congressional Races - Texas District 12". www.cnn.com. Retrieved April 14, 2019.
22. "AllPolitics/CQ - Freshmen of the 105th Congress". www.cnn.com. Retrieved April 14, 2019.
23. "The Voter's Self Defense System". Vote Smart. Retrieved April 14, 2019.
24. Perks, Ashley (September 16, 2008). "The struggling, single mother of three who worked her way up in the House". TheHill. Retrieved April 14, 2019.
25. Malhi, Sabrina (September 11, 2018). "The stakes are sky-high for the pro-life cause in the upcoming midterms". TheHill. Retrieved April 14, 2019.
26. Levine, Samantha; Bureau, Copyright 2005 Houston Chronicle Washington (May 25, 2005). "House votes to expand stem cell research". Houston Chronicle. Retrieved April 14, 2019. {{cite web}}: |last2= has generic name (help)CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
27. "Republican Women Cringe As Men Lead Abortion Fight". BuzzFeed News. Retrieved April 14, 2019.
28. "The Voter's Self Defense System". Vote Smart. Retrieved February 28, 2019.
29. "Kay Granger on the Issues". www.ontheissues.org. Retrieved April 14, 2019.
30. Tribune, Texas. "Here's where Texans in Congress stand on Trump's proposed transgender military ban". Business Insider. Retrieved April 14, 2019.
31. "The Voter's Self Defense System". Vote Smart. Retrieved April 14, 2019.
32. Campaign, Human Rights. "Congressional Spending Bill Supports LGBT Equality Abroad". Human Rights Campaign. Retrieved April 14, 2019.
33. "The Voter's Self Defense System". Vote Smart. Retrieved April 21, 2019.
34. "Republican primary election returns, March 2, 2010". sos.state.tx.us. Retrieved March 4, 2010.
35. "Taiwan needs advanced F-16 C/D jets: defense official." ROC Central News Agency, May 2, 2012.
36. "U.S. Congress to debate sale of F-16 fighters to Taiwan." CNA, May 17, 2012.
37. Mullins, Richard. "House Moves To Ease Restrictions On U.S. Satellite Exports." Aerospace Daily & Defense Report, May 21, 2012.
38. Bowser-Soder, Brenda (June 14, 2013). "House Agrees to Amendment to Restrict U.S. Contracts with Syrian Regime Weapons Supplier". Human Rights First. Archived from the original on July 20, 2013. Retrieved July 20, 2013. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
39. "Public projects, private interests". Washington Post. February 7, 2012. Retrieved July 8, 2012.
40. "About Kay".
41. "Kay Granger". gop.gov. Retrieved April 15, 2019.

External links

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

• 1943 births
• 21st-century American politicians
• 21st-century American women politicians
• American Methodists
• Female members of the United States House of Representatives
• International Republican Institute
• Living people
• Mayors of Fort Worth, Texas
• Members of the United States House of Representatives from Texas
• People from Greenville, Texas
• Republican Party members of the United States House of Representatives
• Texas Republicans
• Women mayors of places in Texas
• Women state legislators in Texas