With the benefit reductions enacted in August of 2009, TVA broke longstanding commitments and promises that TVA employees have relied on in making their retirement and career decisions.  TVA contributed to the perilous financial condition the retirement system found itself in through their lack of support for adequate funding over the last twenty years.  We want to restore the benefits lost by all TVA retirees and employees, and put the retirement system back on firm financial footing.  We are extremely sensitive to the fact that every dime TVA spends, whether on pensions for its workers, bonuses for its executives, fuel, or power generating plants, comes from the electric ratepayers of the Tennessee Valley.  We believe that ratepayers understand that costs for pensions already promised to workers are a legitimate and necessary cost of maintaining a competitive and reliable electric system.  We also believe that they understand that these pension costs are not overly burdensome when properly funded as they are earned.