Four nominees for the board of the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) appeared before a U.S. Senate committee last week to answer questions ahead of their possible confirmation, WBIR reports. Arthur Graham, Mitch Graves, Jeff Hagood and Randall Jones went before the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works. Tennessee’s U.S. senators, Marsha Blackburn and Bill Hagerty, introduced both Graves and Hagood. The nominees were asked about the challenges they might face in providing both reliable and affordable energy, as well as the impacts of data centers popping up around the state. President Donald Trump previously announced the nomination of Nashville car dealer Lee Beaman, but he was not part of the hearing.

A Senate committee with jurisdiction over the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) has scheduled a hearing on Oct. 22 to consider President Donald Trump’s nominations to the TVA Board, Knox News reports. The board of the nation’s largest public utility has been unable to conduct regular business for more than six months. The hearing will consider four of the five nominees: Arthur Graham, Mitch Graves, Jeff Hagood and Randall Jones. A fifth nominee, Lee Beaman, was not included in a Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works news release announcing the hearing. A favorable report from the committee would set the stage for a full Senate vote.

Tennessee's senior Republican U.S. Sen. Marsha Blackburn was honored for her legislative work protecting intellectual property (IP) by the News/Media Alliance during a ceremony in Washington, D.C., on Tuesday. Blackburn was recognized for her work championing "protection of intellectual property, particularly in pushing back against Big Tech monopolies," alongside Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Washington, the Tennessean reports. Blackburn has introduced several bills aimed at regulating artificial intelligence (AI) and establishing legal recourse for victims of AI abuse. “Supporting content creators is at the top of my list of priorities, and we need to pass the COPIED Act, NO FAKES Act and TRAIN Act to protect against the abuse of AI,” Blackburn shared in a social media post.

U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Tennessee Michael Dunavant was confirmed by the U.S. Senate on Oct. 7 by a vote of 51-47. The Daily Memphian reports that the vote came on a slate of 107 nominees, including 15 other U.S. attorney nominees, ambassadors and other appointed officials. President Donald Trump nominated Dunavant in July. Dunavant returns to the office after having served as U.S. attorney during Trump’s first term of office. He previously served as district attorney general for Tennessee's 25th Judicial District, which covers Tipton, Fayette, Hardeman, Lauderdale and McNairy counties. He replaces career prosecutor Joe Murphy, who has been the interim U.S. attorney since Reagan Fondren was removed. Fondren took over after Kevin Ritz stepped down following his appointment to the U.S. 6th Circuit Court of Appeals.

Democrats in Congress are pressing three major law firms — Paul Weiss, Kirkland & Ellis and Skadden — for details on potential free legal work for the Commerce Department, which they argue may violate federal law and go beyond previously announced pro bono commitments. Lawmakers Jamie Raskin of Maryland, Adam Schiff of California and Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut pointed to reports that the firms assisted with tariff negotiations and Intel’s $8.9 billion deal involving the U.S. government, calling the work coercive and outside the stated focus on veterans, anti-Semitism and justice reforms. Bloomberg Law reports that the lawmakers warned the arrangements may stem from what they characterize as Trump administration “shakedown” deals that traded the rescission of punitive executive orders for promises of nearly $1 billion in free legal services. The firms face an Oct. 6 deadline to respond, but Democrats lack subpoena power to compel disclosure.

The U.S. Senate on Thursday confirmed John Squires, a former chief intellectual property attorney at Goldman Sachs, to lead the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) under President Trump. Squires was confirmed as part of a push by the Senate to approve dozens of Trump nominees at once. The USPTO is responsible for issuing U.S. patents and trademarks and advising the government on intellectual property policy. The office's Patent Trial and Appeal Board reviews the validity of existing patents. Squires will head the USPTO as it faces increasing competition with China on innovation and questions about the role of artificial intelligence in inventing, Reuters reports. Trump nominated Squires in March to lead the office. He succeeds Kathi Vidal, who served as director during the Biden administration.

The U.S. Senate confirmed 48 of President Donald Trump’s nominees with one vote under new rules designed to begin clearing a backlog of executive branch positions that had been delayed, WSMV reports. The new rules allow the Senate to move multiple nominees with a simple majority vote — a process that previously would have been blocked with just one objection. The rules do not apply to judicial nominations or high-level cabinet posts. The Senate voted 51-47 to confirm the four dozen nominees.

U.S. Rep. Steve Cohen, Democrat of Memphis, questioned FBI Director Kash Patel about the upcoming deployment of the National Guard to the city during a hearing yesterday on Capitol Hill. According to the Daily Memphian, Cohen asked about the task force President Donald Trump established Monday and whether Patel thinks the National Guard is necessary to do the work that the FBI is doing. Patel said it is necessary: “… we’ve only secured a piece of where the criminal conduct is occurring in Memphis, and we can’t work inside perimeters that aren’t established and safe. And we don’t have the manpower to give us the space to go into the areas where the criminal activity remains.” Cohen and Patel also talked about the results of “Operation Viper” — a summer initiative that resulted in 500 arrests and about 110 indictments in the city.

The Trump administration has requested $58 million from Congress to bolster security for the executive and judicial branches following the assassination of political activist and media personality Charlie Kirk, NBC News reports. The request said the funds would go to the U.S. Marshals Service to provide additional protective services for Supreme Court justices. While the administration supported using money for members of Congress, it deferred to lawmakers on how to manage that spending. Kirk’s death has raised concerns in both major parties, as a growing number of political figures have been targeted, attacked and killed in recent years. In response, several politicians have postponed rallies and canceled outdoor events.

U.S. Sens. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tennessee, and John Cornyn, R-Texas, have introduced bills to end cashless bail policies, which they say allow criminals to reoffend, WSMV reports. The "Ending Cashless Bail in Our Nation’s Capital Act" would ban cashless bail in Washington, D.C., while the "Keep Violent Criminals Off Our Streets Act" would bar certain federal funds from going to states and localities that limit the use of cash bail. Blackburn’s office said the bills are aimed at stopping “soft-on-crime” officials from releasing “countless violent criminals who have demonstrated a clear risk to society back into their communities without bail, which incentivizes and rewards criminal acts.” Last month, President Donald Trump signed an executive order limiting cashless bail and threatening to revoke federal funding from jurisdictions that use it. Another order directed police in the District of Columbia to charge suspects with federal crimes and hold them in federal custody to avoid cashless bail.