Honestly wasn't expecting it to come up at a White House press briefing on #COVID19, but for what it's worth, TVA receives no federal taxpayer funding. It supports its operations through wholesale power sales.

The entity has not received federal funding for power operations since 1959 and all federal taxpayer funding ceased more than 20 years ago (in 1999). In fact, in 2015, TVA repaid the federal government, with interest, all of its initial contributions.

While TVA's debt is technically secured by the federal government, it has been reduced by $6 billion over the past seven years without increasing effective wholesale power rates and does not directly impact taxpayer funding.

Also, unlike other federal agencies, TVA makes annual in lieu of tax payments to all seven states in which it has business operations ($548 million in 2019 alone) and provides river management and other services typically funded by taxpayers at no add'l cost to its service area.

In 2019, TVA's economic development program helped attract or retain 66,000 JOBS and nearly $9 BILLION in capital investment to the Tennessee Valley.

On the question of executive compensation, it's important to remember that TVA serves nearly 10 million people across seven states. It is critical the entity attract and retain the best talent in what is a highly specialized field.

TVA compensation is based on comparisons in the utility industry. As a spokesman for the entity said today, the CEO's “total compensation is approximately 25% of the compensation of CEOs of comparable utilities.”

TVA employees do not receive federal health care or retirement benefits, nor are they eligible for stock incentives like investor-owned companies.

Right now, TVA is focused on protecting the health of employees and the public while maintaining a reliable electric power system during the #COVID19 crisis.

In response to #COVID19, the entity has provided additional regulatory flexibility to allow local power providers to make decisions that best serve their customers.

In addition, TVA recently announced it will make up to a total of $1 BILLION of credit support available to local power companies, ensuring all citizens, as @MarshaBlackburn said, "will be able to turn their lights on, even if #COVID19 is making it tough to pay the bill."

With the country was reeling from the Great Depression, President Roosevelt created his "New Deal" to help America recover. TVA was founded to help the hard-hit Tennessee Valley and address the most important issues in energy, environmental stewardship and economic development.

Making life better for the people in its seven state service area has been the mission of TVA since the 1930s, and it's the mission TVA continues on today.

Simply put, the people in our region are better off because of TVA's work and dedication.

As usual, @SenAlexander says it best: