KAY GRANGER

Several Republicans abstained from requesting earmarks in the budgeting process, citing concerns about ethics and wasteful spending.

Home-district projects for members of Congress are back, sprinkled across the government-wide $1.5 trillion bill that President Joe Biden signed recently.

The House has approved legislation financing federal agencies for another month.

The House has overwhelming passed legislation to provide funding for Israel’s missile defense system.

The House has approved legislation to fund the government, suspend its borrowing limit and provide federal disaster and refugee aid.

Fort Worth’s three Panther Island bridges span dry land. How soon until we see water flowing under them?

“This might be one of the best opportunities we have to actually begin receiving money from government funding.”

ALPINE – The Center for Big Bend Studies may be getting $1,000,000 to supplement its efforts to research and preserve areas of historical significance in the Chihuahuan Desert. In April, Sul Ross State University submitted a proposal to U.S. Congressman Tony Gonzales’ office in the hopes of cashing in on federal funds set aside specifically for community projects. Last week, Gonzales put his stamp of approval on the proposal alongside nine others.

Jeff Ricchetti, the brother of longtime Biden advisor and White House counselor Steve Ricchetti, started lobbying the White House in the first quarter.

U.S. Rep. Kevin Brady, R-Texas, spoke on a panel for the Lincoln Reagan Dinner, at the Bayou City Events Center in Houston in 2017. U.S. Rep. Kevin Brady, R-The Woodlands, has tested positive for the coronavirus, he said on Twitter on Tuesday evening. Earlier this week, U.S. Rep. Kay Granger, R-Fort Worth, a high-ranking member of Texas’ congressional delegation, tested positive for the coronavirus. The first statewide elected official to publicly confirm a positive coronavirus test was Texas Supreme Court Justice Debra Lehrmann in May. Texas Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller also tested positive in early December.

Dr. Alan Glombicki examines a patient using an endoscope in the COVID-19 intensive care unit (ICU) at the United Memorial Medical Center on December 29, 2020 in Houston, Texas. (Photo by Go Nakamura/Getty Images)FORT WORTH, Texas – Texas was on the brink Monday of surpassing a record 13,000 patients hospitalized with COVID-19 as the number of new cases after the Christmas holiday continued surging, including Rep. Kay Granger, who said she tested positive upon returning to Washington for the new Congress. She had been scheduled to receive the second dose Wednesday but will now wait until she is through quarantining, said Michelle Koepp, a spokeswoman for Granger. People are expected to get some level of protection within a couple of weeks after the first shot, but full protection may not happen until a couple of weeks after the second shot. Texas has set new highs for hospitalized COVID-19 patients seven times in the past eight days.

Granger tested positive for the respiratory disease after arriving in Washington, D.C. and is “asymptomatic and feeling great,” her office said in a statement. In July, she announced she tested negative after coming in contact with U.S. Rep. Louie Gohmert, R-Tyler, who later tested positive for the COVID-19. The first statewide elected official to publicly confirm a positive coronavirus test was Texas Supreme Court Justice Debra Lehrmann in May. Other state lawmakers, including Rep. Tony Tinderholt, Sen. Kel Seliger and outgoing House Speaker Dennis Bonnen have tested positive. Texas Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller also tested positive in early December.

(Bonnie Cash/Pool via AP)WASHINGTON The chairman of the House Natural Resources Committee said Saturday he tested positive for the coronavirus days after he sat close to another member of the panel, Texas Rep. Louie Gohmert, who also tested positive. Rep. Raul Grijalva, D-Ariz., said in a statement that he has the virus but, like Gohmert, has no symptoms. He is at least the 11th member of Congress known to have tested positive for the coronavirus. Grijalva went into isolation after Gohmert tested positive on Wednesday, since the two had sat close to each other at a Natural Resources hearing the day before. The White House tests anyone who will be in close proximity to the president, which is how Gohmert found out he had the virus.

On Friday, the House passed a $259 billion funding bill for foreign aid and the Interior, Agriculture, and Veterans Affairs departments along party lines. The measure is the first annual spending measure to pass either the House or Senate this year, but it has scant chance of becoming law, serving instead as a springboard for negotiations down the line. And if Trump loses the election, Democrats are likely to wait until the Biden administration is in place before wrapping up the annual bills, which fund the annual operations of federal Cabinet agencies. The Senate Appropriations panel canceled plans for drafting its 12 annual bills after Democrats served notice they would offer amendments on COVID relief and policing reform that Chairman Richard Shelby, R-Ala., deemed too politically troublesome. As a result, Congress is likely to return to Washington in September to handle a stopgap funding bill that would last until December to prevent a campaign season government shutdown.

Her placement there was a big win for Texas Republicans in the House, giving one of their own a considerable amount of clout. But the number of Texans in Congress with Grangers experience has been shrinking dramatically in recent years. That, combined with Democrats taking control of the House, has diminished the overall influence Texans carry in Congress. Sessions is seeking to return to Congress in 2020, running for a different seat being vacated by U.S. Rep. Bill Flores (R-Bryan). Many of the toughest political battles will happen in the Texas suburbs, which used to be majority white and safely Republican.