TENNESSEE VALLEY AUTHORITY SALARY TRANSPARENCY ACT

TENNESSEE VALLEY AUTHORITY SALARY TRANSPARENCY ACT

Congressional Record, Volume 171 Issue 6 (Monday, January 13, 2025) [Congressional Record Volume 171, Number 6 (Monday, January 13, 2025)] [House] [Pages H105-H106] From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [ www.gpo.gov ] TENNESSEE VALLEY AUTHORITY SALARY TRANSPARENCY ACT Mr. GRAVES. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 144) to provide that the Federal Reports Elimination and Sunset Act of 1995 does not apply to certain reports required to be submitted by the Tennessee Valley Authority, and for other purposes. The Clerk read the title of the bill. The text of the bill is as follows: H.R. 144 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. This Act may be cited as the ``Tennessee Valley Authority Salary Transparency Act''. SEC. 2. SALARY DISCLOSURE; EXCEPTION TO REPORT ELIMINATION. Section 9 of the Tennessee Valley Authority Act of 1933 (16 U.S.C. 831h) is amended-- (1) in subsection (a), by striking ``a financial statement'' and all that follows through ``$1,500 a year'' and inserting ``a report of the total number of employees at the management level or above, to include all executives and board members, that shall include the names, salaries, and duties of such employees, that are receiving compensation at or greater than the maximum rate of basic pay for grade GS-15 of the General Schedule''; (2) by striking all that precedes ``The Board shall'' and inserting the following: ``SEC. 9. FINANCIAL REPORTING. ``(a) Report on Compensation.-- ``(1) In general.--''; and (3) in subsection (a), by adding at the end the following: ``(2) Exemption.--The information concerning salaries of employees of the Corporation contained in, or filed with, the report described in paragraph (1) is exempt from-- ``(A) disclosure under section 552(b)(3) of title 5, United States Code; and ``(B) the requirements of the Access to Congressionally Mandated Reports Act (Public Law 117-263).''. The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from Missouri (Mr. Graves) and the gentleman from Tennessee (Mr. Cohen) each will control 20 minutes. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from Missouri. General Leave Mr. GRAVES. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material in the Record on H.R. 144. The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the gentleman from Missouri? There was no objection. Mr. GRAVES. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of H.R. 144, the Tennessee Valley Authority Salary Transparency Act. This legislation simply reinstates an annual reporting requirement for the Tennessee Valley Authority to disclose to Congress the salaries for upper-level management. I thank Representatives Cohen and Burchett for their bipartisan work on this legislation, which passed this Chamber in March of last year under suspension of the rules by a voice vote. This bill continues years of work to make the TVA more transparent for its customers and the communities that it serves. Mr. Speaker, I urge support for H.R. 144, and I reserve the balance of my time. Mr. COHEN. Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the chairman's remarks, and the gentleman is certainly an embodiment of the virtue of waivers. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of H.R. 144, bipartisan legislation to promote additional transparency over the salary structure of the Tennessee Valley Authority, otherwise known as the TVA. As was said, the bill passed the House last Congress on suspension by a voice vote. The TVA is the Nation's largest government-owned wholesale power producer, supplying power to 10 million people across the States of Tennessee, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, North Carolina, Virginia, and Kentucky. This legislation corrects a change that was enacted in 1995 that removed the requirement for TVA to disclose the management structure and salaries of its executives. Today, TVA has approximately 13,000 employees, and the median salary is $160,000. They have, in essence, 6,500 Congresspeople on salary doing TVA's work. That is absurd. The head of the TVA, whose salary has been reported, makes $10 million a year. Mr. Lyash is a fine fellow. He is really a nice guy, and he does a good job. He was working for a Canadian firm before he got hired to run TVA, where he was making $2 million or $2.5 million. I don't know if he is four times better than he was in the state of Canada, but he is making that. The executives, whose salaries they have to disclose, are making $2 million to $6 million each annually. The public should know about these salaries, what they are getting, and the salaries that are spent at TVA. Last Congress, a fair compromise was reached between our legitimate congressional oversight responsibilities [[Page H106]] over TVA and the need of TVA to retain and maintain a pool of talented, diverse, and effective management staff and executives. This bill would help ensure that Congress has the ability to provide effective oversight of the TVA and its management and executives. My prime cosponsor is Tim Burchett. Representative Burchett has been a friend of mine since we served in the Tennessee General Assembly together, and we raised the speed limit to 70. It had been put down to 60. It didn't hurt that Mr. Sundquist had kind of a heavy foot and helped us with that. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Tennessee (Mr. Burchett) for his cosponsorship. I urge passage of H.R. 144, and I reserve the balance of my time. Mr. GRAVES. Mr. Speaker, I yield 5 minutes to the gentleman from Tennessee (Mr. Burchett). Mr. BURCHETT. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Tennessee (Mr. Cohen), my very good friend from Memphis, Tennessee, the home of Al Green. We had a lot of good times in the State senate. We brought some famous people to the floor, such as our dear friend Steve Cropper, who is in the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. Some of his guitars are in the Smithsonian. There were many others, Isaac Hayes. Steve and I actually sang the theme from ``Shaft'' on the senate floor. I am sure somebody will dig for that, and hopefully, that has been erased from history. We brought Isaac Hayes. I almost forgot about Isaac. We had a great relationship with those folks. People often ask me why I am friends with Congressman Cohen. He is probably my oldest friend up here, truth be known. He is correct that we did sponsor a bill to raise the speed limit. I think I asked for 85, knowing we would take 70, in the house. In the week prior to that, I had actually brought Peyton Manning to the house floor, and I think I could have probably passed communism and gotten 100 miles an hour if I wanted to that week because that was the most popular I had ever been in the legislature. Truth be known, the reason I am such good friends with Steve Cohen is I lost my daddy years ago, and my dad was my hero. He really was. He and my mama were exceptional people. Steve was the first person to call my mama and offer his condolences. I always remembered we were at the graveyard working and trying to get the site at the veterans cemetery, and I remember mama said: Oh, Steve, you shouldn't have called. This is costing you money. I will never forget that. That was my sweet mama. She loved Steve. She prayed for Steve. I don't know if it did any good, Mr. Speaker. I know it doesn't have anything to do about the bill, but I just think America needs to know about these things. Mr. COHEN. Mr. Speaker, I am still here. Mr. BURCHETT. Mr. Speaker, yes, he is. Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of the TVA Salary Transparency Act. The Tennessee Valley Authority is an American public power company providing electricity to over 10 million people in Tennessee and six surrounding States. TVA employs over 10,000 people, some of whom make millions of dollars per year. That is millions, Mr. Speaker, and this is in Tennessee. Tennesseans deserve to know how TVA operates and compensates their executives, especially when TVA covers a region that is 65,000 square miles and the compensation is to the tune of millions of dollars. There is no such thing as too much transparency, and I hope our friends in the media cover this. The TVA Salary Transparency Act requires TVA to report to Congress on the salaries of employees making more than $123,000 annually or the highest pay rate available for Federal employees. Specifically, TVA must report on those employees' names, salaries, and job responsibilities. I have continuously advocated for greater transparency from TVA in other areas as a State legislator, as mayor, and now as a Congressman. Passing this bill is a step in the right direction. Mr. Speaker, once again, I thank Representative Cohen for his work on this bill, and I ask my colleagues to support this bill. It will provide transparency to the millions of folks who rely on the Tennessee Valley Authority. {time} 1715 Mr. COHEN. Mr. Speaker, I will say that the bill has been well explained. It is an important and a good bill. All that Representative Burchett said about his father, Dean Burchett, a rich Tennessean, and Mrs. Burchett is true. They were wonderful people. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time. Mr. GRAVES. Mr. Speaker, H.R. 144 is a commonsense bill. It is going to increase transparency at the TVA, and it is going to ensure that the Transportation Committee conducts appropriate oversight over the agency's actions. Mr. Speaker, I urge support for the bill, and I yield back the balance of my time. The SPEAKER pro tempore. The question is on the motion offered by the gentleman from Missouri (Mr. Graves) that the House suspend the rules and pass the bill, H.R. 144. The question was taken. The SPEAKER pro tempore. In the opinion of the Chair, two-thirds being in the affirmative, the ayes ha

Referenced legislation: HR144, HR144