The Pentagon confirmed on Friday that it has accepted an anonymous donation of $130 million aimed at offsetting the cost of troops’ salaries and benefits during the ongoing government shutdown. This significant donation falls under the Defense Department's “general gift acceptance authority,” as stated by chief Pentagon spokesperson Sean Parnell on Thursday.
According to Parnell, the donation is specifically earmarked to alleviate the financial burden on Service members during this challenging period. “We are grateful for this donor’s assistance after Democrats opted to withhold pay from troops,” Parnell remarked, highlighting the urgency of the situation.
Former President Donald Trump announced the donation during his remarks at the White House on Thursday. He revealed that a “patriot” and “friend of mine,” whose identity he chose to keep private, expressed a desire to help cover any funding shortfall caused by the shutdown. “He called us the other day and he said, ‘I’d like to contribute any shortfall you have because of the Democrat shutdown. I’d like to contribute, personally contribute, any shortfall you have with the military, because I love the military and I love the country,’” Trump stated. He further confirmed that the donor sent a check for the substantial amount of $130 million.
Despite the apparent generosity of the donation, concerns have been raised regarding its anonymous nature. A spokesperson for Senator Chris Coons, a Democrat from Delaware and the ranking member of the Senate Appropriations subcommittee on Defense, expressed apprehension. “Using anonymous donations to fund our military raises troubling questions of whether our own troops are at risk of literally being bought and paid for by foreign powers,” the spokesperson warned, underscoring the potential implications of such funding.
While the $130 million donation is certainly notable, it represents a small fraction of the overall costs associated with paying military personnel. In fact, this amount will hardly make a dent in the billions of dollars the government spends biweekly on troops’ pay and benefits, which totals approximately $6.5 billion per cycle, according to Todd Harrison, a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute. This context highlights the ongoing challenges faced by the military during the shutdown.
The situation is further complicated by legislative efforts to resolve the shutdown. On Thursday, the Senate failed to advance a Republican bill aimed at compensating active-duty service members and other essential federal workers impacted by the shutdown. An alternative proposal from Democrats to pay all federal workers affected by the shutdown also failed to gain traction. This ongoing deadlock continues to pose challenges for the military and federal workforce alike.
