AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — Former Texas Democratic congressman Pete Geren is joining the oversight board of the state’s troubled $3 billion cancer-fighting agency.
Republican House Speaker Joe Straus announced the appointment Tuesday. The Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas is under scrutiny by lawmakers in the wake of a criminal investigation and questionable spending.
Geren represented the Fort Worth area in the 1990s and later served in the Defense Department. Straus said he expects Geren to “play a key role” in restoring public trust to the beleaguered agency, known as CPRIT.
Lawmakers are withholding new funds for CPRIT pending the passage of sweeping reforms.