Appropriations Chair Granger announces departure after House passes $1.2 trillion spending bill

House Appropriations Committee Chair Kay Granger announced she will step down from her post, just hours after the House passed a $1.2 trillion spending package to keep the government open. 

The head of the powerful spending committee told House Speaker Mike Johnson, Louisiana Republican, in a letter Friday that someone else should lead the panel, now that the House has finished work on the fiscal year 2024 spending plan.

Ms. Granger, Texas Republican, earlier announced that she will retire Congress at the end of her term, adding to the growing list of longtime Republicans and Democrats heading for the exits after a chaotic year in the House. 

She said she would stick around in the committee post until the House Steering Committee and Mr. Johnson pick her replacement, and will continue to work on the appropriations panel.

“As I reflect on my time in the House of Representatives and more than five years as ranking member and now chairwoman of the Appropriations Committee, I realize I have accomplished more than I ever could have imagined,” Ms. Granger said in a statement. 

She said, “Recognizing that an election year often results in final appropriations bills not getting enacted until well into the next fiscal year, it is important that I do everything in my power to ensure a seamless transition before the FY25 bill development begins in earnest.”

Mr. Johnson said in a statement on X that Ms. Granger has been a “loyal friend and encourager” since he entered Congress, noting that she was the first Republican chairwoman to lead the spending panel. 

“As she completes her service this term as chairwoman emeritus, the committee and the House Republican Conference will continue to benefit from her expertise, wisdom, and example,” Mr. Johnson said. 

Ms. Granger’s final spending bill as chair narrowly passed the House on Friday ahead of a midnight deadline to fund the government. A majority of Republicans voted against the bill, arguing that it would fund Democratic priorities at the U.S./Mexico border, and decrying the last-minute reveal of the legislative text less than a day and a half before lawmakers were tasked with voting on the colossal, 1,012-page bill.