billproxs
12 pointer
Quote from Wall Street Journal.
The president’s budget proposal says the federal government should consider selling the TVA, the federally owned utility that redefined the Southeastern United States by providing electricity and flood control for rural families and businesses. The agency also had a profound impact on development and settlement patterns in the Southeast.
President Obama’s budget proposal, submitted to Congress yesterday, says the administration “intends to undertake a strategic review of options for addressing TVA’s financial situation, including the possible divestiture of TVA, in part or as a whole.”
The document says the Tennessee Valley Authority has achieved its original purpose as a public agency and now could be moved into private hands as a way to reduce expenses and generate revenue for the government. TVA does not receive federal subsidies, however.
The proposal was news to TVA’s leadership and backers, who said they had no warning it would be in the budget proposal.
Republican Sen. Lamar Alexander of Tennessee condemned the announcement. “This is one more bad idea in a budget full of bad ideas,” he said. “There is today no federal taxpayer subsidy for TVA, period. There is by law no federal taxpayer liability for TVA debt. And after deducting its debt, selling TVA would probably cost taxpayers money.”
TVA provides flood control through a reservoir system and generates electricity (through hydro-electric, coal-fired and nuclear plants) for more than 9 million people in most of Tennessee and parts of Kentucky, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, North Carolina and Virginia.
The president’s budget proposal says the federal government should consider selling the TVA, the federally owned utility that redefined the Southeastern United States by providing electricity and flood control for rural families and businesses. The agency also had a profound impact on development and settlement patterns in the Southeast.
President Obama’s budget proposal, submitted to Congress yesterday, says the administration “intends to undertake a strategic review of options for addressing TVA’s financial situation, including the possible divestiture of TVA, in part or as a whole.”
The document says the Tennessee Valley Authority has achieved its original purpose as a public agency and now could be moved into private hands as a way to reduce expenses and generate revenue for the government. TVA does not receive federal subsidies, however.
The proposal was news to TVA’s leadership and backers, who said they had no warning it would be in the budget proposal.
Republican Sen. Lamar Alexander of Tennessee condemned the announcement. “This is one more bad idea in a budget full of bad ideas,” he said. “There is today no federal taxpayer subsidy for TVA, period. There is by law no federal taxpayer liability for TVA debt. And after deducting its debt, selling TVA would probably cost taxpayers money.”
TVA provides flood control through a reservoir system and generates electricity (through hydro-electric, coal-fired and nuclear plants) for more than 9 million people in most of Tennessee and parts of Kentucky, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, North Carolina and Virginia.
Last edited:
