TVA headquarters in downtown Chattanooga.The fiscal 2014 budget proposed a year ago by President Obama didn’t go far in a Congress with many Republicans upset about lingering federal deficits in the spending plan.
But the White House’s budget planners are still studying one proposal in the budget that might cut the debt, even though many Republicans in the Tennessee Valley object to the idea.
The Office of Management and Budget, which prepares the president’s budget each year, is still studying a proposal advanced in last year’s budget plan to consider selling the Tennessee Valley Authority to help pay down the federal debt.
TVA President Bill Johnson said utility officials and outside consultants hired by TVA have submitted financial data and “all of the analytic work is done” for the Office of Management and Budget, which recommended last April that a study be done on privatizing TVA. But Johnson said OMB has yet to issue any final report or conclusions about the future of the federal utility.
TVA is the largest government-owned utility and, although it is a self-funded federal agency, the agency’s $26 billion debt is included in the federal debt total counted by OMB.