Summary
Texas Republican Congresswoman Kay Granger, 81, has not voted in the US House since July while reportedly dealing with dementia and living in a senior facility.
Her absence, undisclosed until media investigation, raises concerns about representation in her district and her capacity to serve.
Granger, a long-time legislator and former House Appropriations chair, announced plans to retire in 2025.
Critics argue her condition may have impacted her 2022 re-election. Local Republicans called her absence troubling amid critical votes, prompting broader debates on aging lawmakers’ transparency and governance.
How the hell does she not retire immediately? She’s in a senior home. She’s not representing her district at all.
More to the point, how the hell does that not immediately trigger a special election to replace her? She clearly can’t be trusted in the position.
I agree she has no business having her seat, but if you implement some trigger for an immediate special election for this and similar things like it, either something else will be missed, or it will has a risk of a back door for abuse
Age. Limits. And mandatory retirement.
Let that be the fucking legacy of every god-damn boomer.
I’d rather have mandatory cognitive tests. Start them at fifty, since some people develop early-onset dementia. Fail a cognitive test, you’re out, regardless of age.
Nah. That’s very arbitrary. An age is a definitive and objective number, “mental capacity” is so vague, and should not ever be a thing in political offices (that’s up to voters to decide if they are “mentally capable” of doing the job). Using arbitray test like “mental capacity” are like those “literacy tests”, its make the test administrators the de facto decision maket of who gets to be in office. Not a good precedent to set.
Rules should be clear and easy to implement & enforce. Example: 65 years old mandatory retirement. Simple, straightforward.
Besides cognitive issues, after 65 you probably won’t experience the consequences your decisions in your lifetime.
Age is more arbitrary than is the result of a cognitive evaluation.
Cognitive evaluation looks like:
Bernie Sanders = Dementia
Trump = Totally fine and nothing wrong
-Sincerely, the totally unbiased psychologist
More arbitrary but less abusable. One is applied evenly to all people, regardless of people’s opinions or views. The other can be changed and manipulated in a way that knocks out political opponents.
I agree that cognitive ability is more important to me than a person’s age. I live with that observation every day with my parents. They are both around 80, and I would argue my mom is almost as sharp as she ever was; I have no concerns about her decision making. However, my dad is struggling more and more all the time; he’s shown decline for many years now and is at the point we’re not comfortable with him making many decisions or taking on complex tasks. A rule applied to one would not be equally appropriate for the other.
However, if we implement something, I would rather it be a rule that we can apply to all. I don’t trust the government to consistently and reasonably apply cognitive tests that don’t introduce bias.
Edit: autocorrect typo
At the very least, reporting debilitating medical conditions needs to be a legal requirement for holding office. It’s a national security issue.
And that legal requirement shouldn’t be applied to the congressmember, but to the office itself. There’s no way the staff didn’t know, so the entire office should carry an obligation to report, that way someone will do it.
Normal person with dementia: gets fired immediately as soon as employer find out
Congress people: ⬆️
(Edit: Btw, congressmembers have much better retirement fund than a normal person, so there’s really no reason for a congressmember to continue “working”, other than to stay in power.)
I highly doubt their retirement plan can outperform their legal insider trading options.
If I didn’t show up to work for 6 months, they’d stop paying me - surely there would be a case to force her to return the salary she drew while not actually performing any of her duties?
Bet she still gets paid, regardless.
And her insurance probably covers EVERYTHING.
The amount of elder-abuse that is happening just so their families can keep sucking down taxpayer money is fucking sickening.
To be clear, that’s not the main reason it happens. The main reason it actually happens is that it’s really fucking easy to convince someone with fucking dementia that they need to vote a certain way, because they won’t even know what they’re fucking voting on anyway.
But whether politics or family, the entire enterprise is fucking harrowingly foul.
If this pathetic human was working at McDonalds she would have been fired the first day she skipped work in July. 😡
Tbh I think she owes We The People some of that congressional salary back. And a major apology. The right thing to do would have been to stand the fuck down. Dementia or not, she was unable to do her job.
Don’t worry guys, after the Elonbrain implant she is back to normal and will be voting correctly for now on!
For Pete’s sake can we institute some age limits on these “representatives” already?!?!
Isn’t the house currently (2025) separated by 1 seat?
She didn’t run in 2024
Donnie Poopypants found another cabinet nominee.
if elder- and health- care was treated as a normal part of life and funded socially instead of a premium lifestyle there would be less incentive for her family to abuse her like this :(
As a Texan, I worry that this revelation will make her more popular with the dumb assholes around me
