The takeover is complete. Acquiescing to President Donald Trump, the U.S. Senate has confirmed, along party lines, four of the president’s nominees to the Tennessee Valley Authority board of directors, finally forming a quorum.
The quorum, and with it the board’s power to make decisions, was lost after Trump’s unprecedented firings earlier this year of three board members, two of whom were the only women on the nine-member body.
The last president to fire a TVA board member was Franklin D. Roosevelt, who in the 1930s presided over the creation of the public utility that now provides power to over 10 million people in the Southeast.
The new members, confirmed last week, are Jeff Hagood, a Knoxville attorney; Mitch Graves, a Memphis health care executive; Randall Jones, an Alabama insurance agent; and Art Graham, a public service commissioner in Florida, despite the state being outside TVA’s service region.
(IN THE NEWS: Senate confirms four Trump TVA nominees, restoring quorum)