Tennessee Valley Authority Salary Transparency Act

Floor Speech

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Mr. GRAVES of Missouri. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 4693) 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, as amended.

The Clerk read the title of the bill.

The text of the bill is as follows: H.R. 4693

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).''.

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Mr. GRAVES of Missouri. 4693.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of H.R. 4693, 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 out of the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure by voice vote this last year.

The bill continues years of work to make the TVA more transparent for its customers and the communities that it obviously serves.

Mr. Speaker, I urge support of H.R. 4693, and I reserve the balance of my time.
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Mr. GRAVES of Missouri. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

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Mr. GRAVES of Missouri. Mr. Speaker, H.R. 4693, the Tennessee Valley Authority Salary Transparency Act, is a commonsense piece of legislation that is going to help increase transparency at the TVA and ensure that the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee can conduct appropriate oversight over the agency's actions.

Mr. Speaker, I urge support of the bill, and I yield back the balance of my time.

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