The Pentagon announced Friday that it has accepted a $130 million donation from a private, anonymous benefactor to help cover military pay during the ongoing government shutdown.
According to a Defense Department spokesman, the contribution was accepted under the Pentagon’s “general gift acceptance authority” and will go toward salaries and benefits for U.S. service members. However, the amount falls far short of the total needed to fund a full military payroll — which costs more than $7 billion every two weeks, according to 2024 figures cited by The Wall Street Journal.
While federal law allows private donations to the U.S. government, there are strict limits on how those funds can be used without congressional approval.
President Trump praised the generous contribution during a White House event Thursday, calling the donor “a true patriot” and noting that the individual “doesn’t really want the recognition.” The president has instructed the Pentagon to prioritize ensuring that service members continue to be paid throughout the shutdown, which began on October 1.
Active-duty troops remain on duty and will receive back pay once the shutdown ends, according to The Journal. Civilian federal employees, meanwhile, are either furloughed or working without pay. To sustain the previous pay period, the administration had already redirected $8 billion from unused Defense Department research funds.
Todd Harrison, a defense budget analyst with the American Enterprise Institute, said the new donation would cover roughly one-third of a single day’s military payroll based on last year’s figures. “This sounds like a half-baked idea that hasn’t been vetted or implemented,” Harrison told Politico.
Pentagon officials have yet to specify the exact legal framework being used to apply the $130 million donation toward troop compensation, though current policy does allow for certain gifts that directly benefit members of the armed forces.