Khaberni - The U.S. Department of Defense "Pentagon" confirmed on Friday that it accepted an anonymous donation of $130 million to help compensate for the costs of salaries and benefits of the forces during the government shutdown.
The Pentagon’s chief spokesperson, Sean Barnhill, said in a statement that the Department of Defense accepted the donation under the "Authority to Accept Gifts" on Thursday.
Barnhill added: "The donation was made on the condition that it be used to offset the costs of service members' salaries and benefits. We are grateful for this donor's assistance after the Democrats chose to withhold the forces' salaries."
Trump announced the donation during remarks made at the White House on Thursday, saying a "patriot" and "a friend of mine" whose name was not disclosed, said he wanted to contribute to any funding shortfall resulting from the government shutdown.
Trump said: "He called us the other day, and said I would like to contribute to any shortfall you have because of the Democrats' shutdown. I want to contribute, personally, to any shortfall you have with the military because I love the military and I love the country.. and today, he sent us a check for $130 million."
However, the $130 million donation will hardly make a dent in the billions of dollars spent by the government every two weeks to cover the salaries and benefits of the forces.
The basic salaries and allowances for the forces amount to about $6.5 billion per pay period, according to Todd Harrison, a senior fellow at the "American Enterprise Institute," who previously spoke to NBC News
The Senate failed on Thursday to pass a Republican bill to pay the salaries of active-service members and other federal employees considered essential during the government shutdown. The Democrats presented an alternative to pay the salaries of all federal employees affected by the shutdown, but it also failed.
With the continuation of the shutdown with no end in sight, it is not immediately known where the other $6.37 billion needed to pay the forces' salaries every two weeks will come from.
On October 11, Trump ordered Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to use $8 billion from the Pentagon’s unallocated research and development funds to pay the forces' salaries in mid-October.
