| September 23, 2005 |
WASHINGTON, D.C.—Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert (R-IL) today named Congresswoman Kay Granger (R-TX) to sit on the bipartisan House Select Committee tasked to review the federal, state and local response to Hurricane Katrina.
“I am honored that the Speaker has asked me to sit on this bi-partisan, select committee to review the response to Hurricane Katrina at all levels of government,” said Congresswoman Granger. “I believe it’s important that we take an honest look at where the system failed -- at what levels and at what points -- and make any necessary adjustments immediately. Americans must be able to depend on the government’s response, at all levels, to any major catastrophe be it a natural disaster, a terrorist attack or other incident.”
The committee, called the “Select Bi-Partisan Committee to Investigate the Preparation for and Response to Hurricane Katrina,” will be comprised of eleven Republicans and nine Democrats. Rep. Tom Davis (R-VA), Chair of the Government Reform Committee, will chair the select committee that has been slated to begin its review on XX.
Other Republican Members of the committee include: Reps. F. James Sensenbrenner, Jr. (R-WI), Harold Rogers (R-KY), Christopher Shays (R-CT), Rep. Henry Bonilla (R-TX), Steve Buyer (R-IN), Sue Myrick (R-NC), Mac Thornberry (R-TX), Charles W. “Chip” Pickering (R-MS) and Bill Shuster (R-PA).
Before coming to Congress, Granger served as mayor of Fort Worth for five years. As mayor, Granger led the City Council in setting policy that enabled the city’s professional staff to create effective emergency management systems. Within the emergency management field, the city of Fort Worth is considered to have one of the best emergency response systems in the country. Fort Worth has been tested in several disasters, including a rampage by a gunman in 1999 that killed seven people and injured seven others and by a tornado that struck six months later in downtown Fort Worth. The tornado caused extensive damage and forced city officials to shut down the central business district for weeks.
Granger serves on the Appropriations Committee and the powerful Defense Appropriations Subcommittee. She also serves as a Majority Whip. Granger is the first and only female Republican to serve in the Texas House delegation. Granger represents the 12th District of Texas and is currently serving in her fifth term in Congress.