The US Department of Defense (Pentagon) plans to use a $130 million donation provided by an undisclosed “ally” of US President Donald Trump to pay the salaries of its staff.
CNN reported that due to the shutdown of the federal government, the Pentagon plans to cover employee benefits from donations.
Thus, the Pentagon confirmed its intention to use $130 million provided by “an unnamed Trump ally” to support payroll payments.
Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell said the funds are intended to “cover the costs of salaries and related benefits for military personnel.” He said the funds were accepted as part of the department’s “general authority to accept donations.”
“The use of anonymous donations to fund our military raises troubling questions about whether the United States’ own military personnel are at risk of being effectively bought or paid for by foreign forces,” said a senior member of the Senate Budget Committee. defense, Democrat Chris Coons.
White House officials confirmed that the cost of military payments for the first half of October was about $6.5 billion.
Todd Harrison, a defense budget analyst at the Washington think tank American Enterprise Institute (AEI), said the donation “will cover about a third of the military’s daily pay.”
Government shutdown effective October 1
The U.S. fiscal year ended on September 30, 2025, and Congress was unable to approve an interim budget before the start of the new fiscal year. That led to a federal government shutdown, the first such shutdown since 2019.
Democrats are pushing to extend health insurance subsidies and reverse cuts to Medicaid funding, refusing to support the Republican bill. They, in turn, require the adoption of an interim budget without changes to current spending levels.
What does a government shutdown mean?
Under American law, if Congress does not approve a budget for the fiscal year (October 1 to September 30) or an interim budget, the federal government loses spending authority, resulting in a suspension of all “non-essential” operations.
During this period, employees employed in “non-essential” instances are sent on unpaid leave. At the same time, “key personnel” – military, intelligence officers, employees of public hospitals, airports and prisons – continue to perform their duties. However, even these employees typically don’t get paid until Congress approves a new budget.