Kay Granger stands by vote against infrastructure bill

U.S. Rep. Kay Granger, a Fort Worth Republican, stood by her vote against a federal infrastructure bill that provided the funds for the Panther Island project. “I wasn’t against this project, I was against some of the other parts of that bill,” Granger said Thursday, when pressed about her November vote during a press conference. Granger and U.S. Rep. Marc Veasey, D-Fort Worth, announced Wednesday that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has allocated $403 million for a 1.5-mile bypass channel that will create an island north of downtown. The money is being funneled through the Army Corps from the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act signed by President Joe Biden in November.

Granger was among those who did not vote for the $1 trillion infrastructure bill. The bill passed out of the U.S. House of Representatives on a 228-206 vote, with 13 Republicans supporting the legislation. All of Texas’ Republican House members voted against the measure. At the time, Granger described the legislation as the “latest liberal wish list” and said it would add “$256 billion to our growing national debt,” citing the Congressional Budget Office. “Less than 25% of the new spending in this so-called ‘infrastructure’ bill goes to traditional infrastructure like roads and bridges, and only a fraction of the bill’s $1.2 trillion total cost is paid for,” she said in a Nov. 6 statement. Granger noted that the bill “changed significantly” as it worked its way through the legislative process but that the pot of money that was ultimately used to fund the flood project did not. Granger has blamed Mick Mulvaney, then director of the Office of Management and Budget under President Donald Trump, for blocking funding for the project, a point she reiterated Thursday.