U.S. Rep. Kay Granger, R-Fort Worth, will step down early as chair of the influential House Appropriations Committee, she announced in a letter to Republican leadership Friday.
The chairmanship is one of the most powerful positions held by a Texan in Congress. The Appropriations Committee sets funding levels every year for a host of government programs. Granger has been the top Republican on the committee since 2019.
Granger announced last year that she would not seek reelection this cycle. She is currently the longest-serving Republican in the Texas delegation, serving since 1997.
Granger said in her letter she would remain chairwoman until the Republican Steering Committee, which determines committee assignments for the conference, selects a new chair. She said she plans to remain on the committee as an emerita chair, offering advice to the next head of the committee.
Granger’s announcement came only hours after the House voted to pass legislation to fund the federal government for the remainder of the fiscal year, which ends at the end of September. This year’s funding cycle has been littered with starts and stops, as Republicans struggled to wrangle their ideologically diverse conference behind funding legislation.
Members of the Republican conference’s powerful right wing decried federal funding efforts by the traditionally bipartisan Appropriations Committee as wasteful and demanded provisions tackling cultural issues such as transgender care in the military.
This article originally appeared in The Texas Tribune.