The US Department of Defense (Pentagon) has accepted a $130 million donation from an anonymous donor. He plans to use the funds to partially cover the salaries of soldiers during the ongoing shutdown of the federal government. CNN drew attention to this on Friday, TASR reports.
“The donation was made under the condition that it be used to offset the cost of salaries and benefits for members of the armed forces,” Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell said in a statement to CNN.
The television reminds that there are almost 1.3 million people in active service in the US armed forces. Therefore, the donation will not have any significant impact on their salaries, as each soldier will get roughly $100 thanks to it.
The acceptance of the donation raised questions about the legality of the move and the identity of the anonymous donor. According to budget experts, this may be a violation of the law that prohibits federal agencies from spending more money than Congress has authorized.
Disputed legality
Democrats are especially critical, according to whom the Ministry of Defense has the right to accept donations, but only for a few specific purposes, such as military schools, hospitals or cemeteries, as well as to help wounded soldiers and their survivors. Donations are also subject to stricter regulations if they come from abroad.
“The use of anonymous donations to fund our military raises troubling questions about whether our own troops are at risk of being literally bought and paid for by foreign powers,” said Delaware Democratic Sen. Chris Coons.
Shutdown continues
The identity of the donor is unknown. US President Donald Trump only said on Thursday that this was “his friend”.
In the USA, there has been a shutdown since the beginning of October, as Congress did not agree on the funding of federal offices. In practice, this means that most of the so-called non-essential federal employees will stop working until their offices are funded. They do not receive a salary during this period and the money will be paid to them retroactively.
