Representative Kay Granger has not voted in the House since July and has been living in an independent living facility.
Credit...Alyssa Schukar for The New York Times

Kay Granger’s Senior Living Revelation Draws Fresh Scrutiny to Aging Congress

Representative Kay Granger, Republican of Texas, has been largely absent from Capitol Hill since the summer and has moved into a retirement home.

by · NY Times

Just a few years ago, Representative Kay Granger of Texas made history when she became the first Republican woman to lead the powerful House Appropriations Committee.

But her ascent on Capitol Hill reached a coda over the weekend when a conservative outlet in Texas revealed that Ms. Granger had not voted in the House since July and has been living in an independent living facility — an arrangement her office had not disclosed.

Ms. Granger, 81, stepped down as the top Republican on the Appropriations Committee in March and said she would not seek re-election, but she continued to serve out the rest of her term.

Beyond raising questions about whether Ms. Granger and her team had misled constituents about her fitness to serve, the episode brought renewed attention to how Capitol Hill is powered by a crop of septuagenarians and octogenarians, including some who refuse to relinquish power even far past their primes.

“Kay Granger’s long absence reveals the problem with a Congress that rewards seniority and relationships more than merit and ideas,” Representative Ro Khanna, Democrat of California, said. “We have a sclerotic gerontocracy.”

Ms. Granger moved to the senior living facility in July, in an effort to prepare for her retirement, a person familiar with the situation who spoke on the condition of anonymity said, adding that the Texas Republican had been in touch with the party’s leaders and would have returned to Washington if she was needed for a vote.

She returned to Washington in November to celebrate the unveiling of her portrait in the Appropriations Committee room — an honor bestowed upon each chair of the panel — posing with her colleagues in a crimson suit.

Her son told The Dallas Morning News that Ms. Granger had been experiencing “dementia issues.”

Congress has long been populated by a geriatric political class, and its hierarchical structures encourage incumbency and longevity.

Senator Charles E. Grassley, Republican of Iowa, is Congress’s eldest member at 91 years old. In 2023, The New York Times tallied 20 lawmakers who were at least 80 years old. While the Constitution lays out a floor for age requirements for those running for Congress, it does not mandate a ceiling.

That has created a bevy of awkward situations for leaders in both parties, who have been thrust into the delicate position of trying to nudge out aging lawmakers who refuse to release their grip on power.

Senator Dianne Feinstein, Democrat of California, refused to step down from her post even as she suffered from a near-debilitating case of shingles that spread to her face and neck, causing vision and balance impairments and facial paralysis known as Ramsay Hunt syndrome.

The virus also brought on a previously unreported case of encephalitis, characterized by swelling of the brain. She died in office in 2023 at 90 years old.

Both Representative Nancy Pelosi, Democrat of California and the former speaker, 84, and Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the outgoing Republican leader, 82, suffered falls in the same week earlier this month. Ms. Pelosi fractured her hip and required surgery.

Mr. McConnell sprained his wrist. He also suffered a serious fall in 2023 that was followed a few months later by a freezing episode at the Capitol that raised questions about his health and ability to do his job. He has stepped down as Republican leader but remains in office.

Generational divides have edged increasingly into the open. In the House, two younger Democrats challenged and beat out veteran leaders to become the party’s ranking members on the Natural Resources and Agriculture panels.

House Republicans have been historically somewhat less deferential to seniority, and in fact require their committee chairs to abide by term limits that sometimes have the effect of pushing veteran lawmakers out of Congress altogether.

But generational challenges are a change for Democrats, who for decades have abided by an unwritten rule that seniority trumps all.

In one such changing of the guard, Representative Raúl Grijalva, 76, a progressive who was his party’s leader on the Natural Resources Committee for a decade, stepped aside to make way for a younger colleague, Representative Jared Huffman of California, 60.

Annie Karni contributed reporting.

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