Rep. Kay Granger, R-Texas, lives in a senior living facility, a source told Fox News on Sunday. The source also denied a local news report that she was in a memory care facility.

Granger, who is retiring at the end of this congressional term, has been largely absent from the Capitol in recent months, having last cast votes on July 24. This year she was absent for over 54% of the votes.

The Dallas Express investigated the 81-year-old congresswoman’s absence and published a report Friday that quoted a constituent in her district who said Granger was staying at a memory care facility in Texas. The report was later picked up by other news outlets.

Fox News spoke with a source from Granger’s office who denied that Granger was in a memory care unit. The source told Fox News that Granger is in a senior living facility that provides memory care, although not in the memory care unit itself.

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Rep. Kay Granger, R-Texas, leaves the House Republican caucus meeting at the Capitol Hill Club on Wednesday, May 10, 2023, in Washington. (Bill Clark/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)

Granger released a statement to Fox News saying she was facing “health challenges” and was “deeply grateful for the outpouring of care and concern” she experienced over the weekend.

“As many of my family, friends and colleagues know, I have had to overcome some unforeseen health challenges over the past year,” Granger said in the statement. “But since early September, my health problems have worsened, making frequent trips to Washington both difficult and unpredictable. Throughout this time, my incredible employees have stood firm and continued to provide exceptional service to citizens, as they have for the past 27 years.”

Rep. Kay Granger, R-Texas, speaks during a press conference with other Republican members of the House of Representatives at the Capitol on July 21, 2020 in Washington, DC (Samuel Corum/Getty Images)

Granger, who did not seek re-election in the upcoming term, has served in the House of Representatives since 1997. Previously, she was the first female mayor of Fort Worth, Texas.

Although Granger appears not to have cast a vote since July, she returned to the Capitol in November for the unveiling of her portrait as chairwoman of the Budget Committee and a reception afterward. House Speaker Johnson and House Majority Leader Steve Scalise both spoke at the event.

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A senior Republican source told Fox News that Granger did not resign sooner because of Republicans’ razor-thin majority in the House.

“Frankly, we needed the numbers,” the source told Fox News.

The slim majority poses a challenge for the speaker of the 119th Congress, where turnout could determine Republican success or defeat.

Fox News has reached out to Johnson’s office for comment.

Granger’s long absence was sharply criticized by Rep. Ro Khanna, D-Calif., in a post on X.

“Kay Granger’s long absence reveals the problem of a Congress that rewards seniority and relationships more than merit and ideas,” he wrote. “We have a sclerotic gerontocracy. We need term limits. We need to get big money out of politics so that a new generation of Americans can run and serve.”

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Khanna was one of the few lawmakers who previously criticized what he called a “gerontocracy.” In May 2023, he called on then-89-year-old Democratic Rep. Dianne Feinstein to resign because her own health problems kept her away from the Capitol. Feinstein died months later in September 2023.