Kay Granger revelation punctuates increasing scrutiny of aging officials

The revelation that Rep. Kay Granger (R-Texas) has been living in an assisted living facility is fueling scrutiny of aging public officials, highlighting the shifting norms surrounding lawmaker health, seniority, and for how long it is appropriate to hang on to power.

“Sadly, you know, some of these members wait until it's too long to things have gone too far,” fellow Texas Republican Rep. Tony Gonzales said on CBS’s Face the Nation on Sunday in light of the news.

“I think this goes- gets back to the root of it. Congress should do its job, and if you can't do your job, maybe you shouldn't be there,” Gonzales said.

Granger, 81, made history as the first woman to chair the House Appropriations Committee. She stepped down from the post in March after Congress completed fiscal year 2024 funding and declined to run for reelection — and then missed every vote after July 24.

Her office confirmed a Dallas Express report last weekend that she was living in the assisted living facility, but denied she was in “memory care” — though Granger’s son told the Dallas Morning News that she had been “having some dementia issues late in the year.”

Outgoing Rep. Annie Kuster (D-N.H.) told the Boston Globe that part of her decision to retire was in hopes of encouraging other aging lawmakers to step aside.

“I’m trying to set a better example,” Kuster, 68, told the Boston Globe. “I think there are colleagues — and some of whom are still very successful and very productive — but others who just stay forever.”

The norms surrounding questioning lawmakers’ capabilities as they grow older have steadily changed through the decades.

Sen. Strom Thurmond (R-S.C.), the fourth-longest serving Senator, was 100 years old when he left office in January 2003. A New York Times report in 2001 described Thurmond’s “visible deterioration” and that he sometimes seemed confused at Senate hearings. His friends said that the senator had hip ailments and refused to wear a hearing aid, but insisted he was “neither sick nor senile.”

Increased scrutiny of aging officials has been further heightened by President Biden.

Biden, 82, faced attacks over and concerns about his mental fitness for years, even before he won the presidency in 2020. White House staff and administration officials often forcefully defended his abilities.

That reached a tipping point over the summer, culminating in Biden’s dismal debate performance against Trump that prompted a Democratic Party rebellion and forced him to end his reelection bid this year.

Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) also faced waves of reports about memory issues that led to questions about her ability to do the job prior to her death in 2023 at age 90.

It is not only concerns about mental fitness that have increased. Physical problems have also put a spotlight on an aging Congress.

Longtime Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell (Ky.), 82, had two incidents last year in which he visibly froze while delivering remarks. His office attributed the moments to him being lightheaded. McConnell also suffered a fall and received medical attention at the Capitol earlier this month. And former Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), 84, broke her hip in a fall this month while overseas and required surgery.

While neither lawmaker is set to be in party leadership next year, both are set to be in Congress next year, with McConnell slated to chair the Senate Rules Committee and the Appropriations Subcommittee on Defense.

Health issues helped spur a shift in at least one Democratic Party ranking member position, where seniority has typically been the dominant consideration.

Rep. Raúl Grijalva (D-Ariz.), who is 76 and had missed House votes for the bulk of 2024 due to treatment for cancer, backed off seeking another term as ranking member on the House Natural Resources Committee after getting a challenge from Rep. Jared Huffman (D-Calif.), 60. 

And Rep. David Scott (D-Ga.), 79, lost his bid for reelection to be ranking member on the House Agriculture Committee amid reported concerns about his mental capacity and an absence due to treatment for back issues. Rep. Angie Craig (D-Minn.), 52, won that seat.

But for all the chatter about Democrats embracing a generational shift in light of those changes, the party’s slate of House committee leaders is still dominated by senior lawmakers – both in terms of longevity and age.

Democrats opted to put Rep. Gerry Connolly (D-Va.), who is 74 and battling esophageal cancer, atop the House Oversight Committee rather than Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.), 35. Many ranking members did not face competition for their powerful positions, including Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.), 81 of the Appropriations Committee and Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.), 86, of the Financial Services Committee.

The appointments show that age alone is not the sole point of consideration as Washington grapples with how to deal with aging public officials – on both sides of the aisle.

Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), 91, is set to chair the Senate Judiciary Committee next year. One of Grassley’s 2022 campaign ads featured him doing push-ups and jogging in the mornings.

President-elect Trump is now 78, the same age Biden was when he was elected to the White House in 2020. And while Trump has faced some scrutiny for his age and mental capacity, public perception of his abilities is much more favorable for him than for Biden.

A November 12-17 Pew Research poll found that 55 percent of Americans said the phrase “mentally sharp” describes Trump very well or fairly well, while a July Pew survey conducted just after the Biden-Trump debate found only about a quarter of voters said the same for Biden.

As scrutiny increases, though, there is not a clear way to address concerns with aging lawmakers other than their resignations, retirements, or electoral defeats.

Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) in a post on X said that Granger’s situation “reveals the problem with a Congress that rewards seniority & relationships more than merit & ideas”

“We need term limits. We need to get big money out of politics so a new generation of Americans can run and serve,” Khanna said. 

When former UN Ambassador Nikki Haley ran for president, she called for competency tests for politicians over the age of 70.

While the Constitution’s 25th Amendment outlines a procedure to deal with a president who is incapacitated, there is no specific protocol for dealing with a member of Congress who is unable to perform his or her duties. 

The House in 1981 declared a seat vacant after Rep. Gladys Noon Spellman (D-Md.) fell into a coma before she was able to take the oath of office, never regaining consciousness. But there is no precedent for forcibly removing an incapacitated member who had taken the oath of office that Congress. Either the House or Senate may expel a member by a two-thirds vote.

But beyond the personal sensitives of having colleagues determine whether an aging or sick colleague is capable of serving, the political realities of a closely-divided Congress give no incentive to change those norms.

In the House, after a few members depart to take positions in the Trump administration, Republicans will be able to spare no defections on party-line legislation, assuming all members are present, until the vacancies are filled.

But absences — or surprise appearances — could make a big difference.

In one dramatic vote earlier this year, Democrats unexpectedly defeated Republicans’ first attempt to impeach Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas when Rep. Al Green (D-Texas),who had been absent earlier in the day due to abdominal surgery, showed up for the vote — still in his hospital garb.