WASHINGTON – When the White House revealed it’s newest plans for funding the Federal Government, there was a big surprise contained on Page 51. The Obama Administration is trying to make the case that the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) should be sold. The report, written by the Government Accountability Office (GAO) and titled “Creating a 21st Century Government,” identifies several areas for saving money and reducing waste.
On page 51 of the report, the GEO suggests that the nation’s need for this major economic force has greatly changed. When the TVA was created, it was to fill specific needs that necessarily had to be addressed during the Great Depression. Today, the report says, the reason for TVA’s existence has faded.
Here is the text from page 51:
“Reform TVA. Since its creation in the 1930s during the Great Depression, the federally owned and operated Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) has been producing low-cost electricity and managing natural resources for a large portion of the Southeastern United States. TVA’s power service territory includes most of Tennessee and parts of Alabama, Georgia, Kentucky, Mississippi, North Carolina, and Virginia, covering 80,000 square miles and serving more than nine million people. TVA is a self-financing Government corporation, funding operations through electricity sales and bond financing. In order to meet its future capacity needs, fulfill its environmental responsibilities, and modernize its aging generation system, TVA’s current capital investment plan includes more than $25 billion of expenditures over the next 10 years. However, TVA’s anticipated capital needs are likely to quickly exceed the agency’s $30 billion statutory cap on indebtedness. Reducing or eliminating the Federal Government’s role in programs such as TVA, which have achieved their original objectives and no longer require Federal participation, can help put the Nation on a sustainable fiscal path. Given TVA’s debt constraints and the impact to the Federal deficit of its increasing capital expenditures, 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.”
You may read the entire GEO budget proposal by clicking this LINK.
