Political Quotes

“I want to say a quick word about these nominees. What we just approved were six nominations to the Tennessee Valley Authority Board of Directors. Nine years ago, I started working on legislation to modernize and expand TVA's board of directors to bring it more in line with other corporations of similar size and scope and responsibility. Just over a year ago, Congress passed my bill and this group of nominees is the first to the newly reformed TVA board. They are an outstanding group. All have substantial business and management experience. All are leaders in their respective communities--just the kind of qualifications that we were looking for when we initially drafted our reform modernization legislation. I commend the President for nominating such a highly qualified group, and I look forward to working with them on the many challenges facing TVA in the 21st century. I thank my colleagues from both sides of the aisle for both furthering this legislation along and passing it and going through the nomination process in a very respectable way. These nominees--Dennis Bottorff, Robert Duncan, William Sansom, Susan Richardson Williams, Donald DePriest, and Howard Thrailkill--join two existing current board members, Bill Baxter and Skila Harris. I guess they are no longer nominees; they are on the TVA board. I thank the Democratic leader and others for making this possible to do today.…”