[reminder]

Trump fires Tennessee Valley Authority chair over compensation, outsourcing

August 3, 2020
Trump made the announcement as he signed an executive order that aims to prevent federal agencies from unfairly replacing U.S. workers with lower-cost foreign labor.

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump said Monday that he had fired the chair of the Tennessee Valley Authority, saying the executive was getting paid too much and was hiring foreign workers.

Trump told reporters at the White House that he was formally removing the authority’s chair of the board and another member of the board, and he threatened to remove other board members if they keep hiring foreign labor.

The TVA is a federally owned corporation created in 1933 to provide flood control, electricity generation, fertilizer manufacturing and economic development to the Tennessee Valley, a region that was hard hit by the Great Depression. The region covers most of Tennessee and parts of Alabama, Mississippi and Kentucky as well as small sections of Georgia, North Carolina and Virginia.

He said the TVA board must immediately hire a new chief executive officer who “puts the interests of Americans first.” According to Trump, the CEO earns $8 million a year.

“The new CEO must be paid no more than $500,000 a year,” Trump said. “We want the TVA to take action on this immediately. ... Let this serve as a warning to any federally appointed board: If you betray American workers, you will hear two words: ‘You’re fired.’”