{"id":20089,"date":"2025-02-01T12:49:48","date_gmt":"2025-02-01T12:49:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usdailys.com\/?p=20089"},"modified":"2025-02-01T12:49:48","modified_gmt":"2025-02-01T12:49:48","slug":"top-paid-federal-employee-leaving-10-5m-job-after-first-term-trump-said-were-getting-rid-of-him","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usdailys.com\/?p=20089","title":{"rendered":"Top-paid federal employee leaving $10.5M job \u2014 after first-term Trump said \u2018we\u2019re getting rid of him\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

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WASHINGTON \u2014 Tennessee Valley Authority CEO Jeff Lyash \u2014 the\u00a0highest-paid federal employee<\/a>\u00a0with a compensation package of $10.5 million per year \u2014 abruptly announced Friday that he was retiring 11 days after the return to office of President Trump, who during his first term slammed Lyash\u2019s\u00a0\u201cridiculous\u201d pay<\/a>\u00a0and vowed to fire him.<\/p>\n

\u201cSounds like Lyash got DOGE\u2019d,\u201d a senior administration official told The Post, referring to Elon Musk\u2019s Department of Government Efficiency initiative to rein in allegedly wasteful federal spending.<\/p>\n

A TVA rep denied that Lyash was departing either in response to or to get ahead of pressure from Trump\u2019s team after six years in the job.<\/p>\n

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Jeff Lyash is leaving the most lucrative job in federal government.AP<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cThe answer is no,\u201d spokeswoman Melissa Greene told The Post. \u201cWhen Jeff was hired in 2019, he told the TVA Board of Directors that he would let them know when he was seriously considering retirement. Jeff kept his word, beginning those conversations with the Board last fall.\u201d<\/p>\n

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In his good-bye message, Lyash wrote: \u201cWhile I\u2019m looking forward to my next chapter, spending more time with family, grandchildren, and friends, I will miss our TVA team and the relationships we\u2019ve built across this region.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe true strength of TVA is its people \u2013 an experienced and passionate workforce who work every day to make a difference,\u201d Lyash added.<\/p>\n

Trump tore into Lyash during the final year of the 45th presidency,\u00a0saying in August 2020\u00a0<\/a>that \u201cwe\u2019re getting rid of him in one form or another. Either the board\u2019s gonna do it, or we\u2019re gonna do it, but he\u2019s gone.\u201d<\/p>\n

Trump said at the time that Lyash should have been earning \u201cno more than $500,000 a year\u201d and should not get a \u201clavish\u201d exit package.<\/p>\n

By law, the president earns $400,000 annually, in addition to a $50,000 allowance for expenses. Members of Congress receive a yearly salary of $174,000.<\/p>\n

The then-president, responding to a question from The Post, said that Lyash was grossly overpaid for his role leading the federally owned utility, which is a legacy of New Deal infrastructure projects.<\/p>\n

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Lyash was targeted by President Trump in his first term over his \u201cridiculous\u201d pay.Tennessee Valley Authority<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Elon Musk is leading Trump administration efforts to trim federal spending.via REUTERS<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cThat is the greatest job in the history of government almost, certainly if you\u2019re into money \u2026 I\u2019ve been waiting for somebody to ask me about that, it\u2019s been bothering me for a long time,\u201d\u00a0Trump said<\/a>\u00a0at a briefing during the COVID-19 pandemic.<\/p>\n

The TVA manages hydroelectric dams and nuclear power plants.<\/p>\n

Other TVA employees are also earning top dollar \u2014 with chief financial officer John Thomas raking in $6.3 million a year, chief operating officer Don Moul earning $5 million, general counsel David Fountain making $3.3 million and chief nuclear officer Tim Rausch taking home $3.3 million,\u00a0according to\u00a0<\/a>a November report from the Knoxville News Sentinel.<\/p>\n

Criticism of TVA salaries has been bipartisan, with Rep. Steve Cohen (D-Tenn.) telling The Post in 2020 that Lyash\u2019s pay was \u201cout of line for a public agency.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cMany [TVA executives] make over a million dollars running an agency set up to render energy and aid to a poor region in our country that still suffers economically in many areas,\u201d Cohen said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis makes the out-of-line salaries even more distasteful. This has been wrong for decades and those salaries should be considerably reduced, particularly at this time.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lyash\u2019s subordinates defended his compensation by noting that utility executives often get seven- or eight-figure hauls.<\/p>\n

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    WASHINGTON \u2014 Tennessee Valley Authority CEO Jeff Lyash \u2014 the\u00a0highest-paid federal employee\u00a0with a compensation package of $10.5 million per year \u2014 abruptly announced Friday that he was retiring … <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":20090,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-20089","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/usdailys.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20089","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/usdailys.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/usdailys.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usdailys.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usdailys.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=20089"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/usdailys.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20089\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":20091,"href":"https:\/\/usdailys.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20089\/revisions\/20091"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usdailys.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/20090"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/usdailys.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=20089"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usdailys.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=20089"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usdailys.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=20089"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}