legally disputed move<\/a> last week to redirect $8 billion from its research and development accounts to cover military pay, the use of private funds raises concerns \u2014 government agencies can spend federal funds only as appropriated by Congress and spending in the absence of appropriations is constitutionally prohibited.\u00a0<\/p>\nAnd while Congress gives the Defense Department limited authority to shift funds between accounts, the Appropriations Act requires that once money is moved, it becomes subject to all the legal limitations of the account it is transferred into \u2014 and in this case, the military pay accounts have already expired.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s no funding, there\u2019s no fiscal 2026 military personnel checking accounts to put money into. As the law has always been understood prior to this week, you cannot pay fiscal 2026 personnel bills with fiscal 2025 money and the department doesn\u2019t have any fiscal 2026 money. It is not apparent to me how this is legal,\u201d a former defense official told Federal News Network.<\/p>\n
In addition, the department must consult with an ethics office before accepting donations over $10,000 to determine whether the donor is \u201cinvolved in any claims, procurement actions, litigation, or other particular matters involving the department that must be considered prior to gift acceptance.\u201d<\/p>\n
]]><\/p>\n
\u201cI am not aware anything like this has ever happened before, and for most countries, paying their own troops is seen as a centerpiece of national security. The notion that people whose identity we don\u2019t know are paying for our troops is humiliating for the country and is also potentially dangerous. Do we know that this person who gave the money really did it from their own funds, or were those funds supplied by a foreign power that may have interest contrary to ours?\u201d Super said.<\/p>\n
The White House declined to comment on the donation and directed questions to the Defense and Treasury departments. The Treasury Department did not respond to a request for comment.<\/p>\n
Potential gray area<\/p>\n
Rich Brady, the Society of Defense Financial Management chief executive officer, said the Pentagon may argue that using the donation would not violate the Antideficiency Act because there is currently no appropriation for military pay due to the shutdown \u2014 meaning there is no existing account to \u201caugment.\u201d <\/p>\n
\u201cYou can\u2019t augment something that doesn\u2019t exist,\u201d Brady said.<\/p>\n
And even if the use of donation money violates the Antideficiency Act, the Justice Department has previously determined that federal agencies can accept outside help when necessary to prevent immediate harm.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhile we\u2019re operating in kind of a gray area, it has legal justification for the department. I think the greater issue is, what precedent are you setting by accepting private funds to pay military pay?\u201d Brady said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Military pay has become one of the most contentious issues of the shutdown in the absence of legislation such as the Pay Our Military Act, which ensured troops were paid during previous shutdowns. House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) refused to bring the Pay Our Troops Act of 2026 to the floor, saying that \u201cthe House already did its job, it\u2019s called the continuing resolution.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, Senate Republicans tried to advance a bill<\/a> that would ensure troops are paid during the shutdown, but Democrats blocked the measure and instead backed a broader legislation that would guarantee pay for all federal workers.<\/p>\nIf you would like to contact this reporter about recent changes in the federal government, please email anastasia.obis@federalnewsnetwork.com or reach out on Signal at (301) 830-2747.<\/b><\/p>\n
]]><\/p>\n
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\n \u00a9\u00a02025 Federal News Network. All rights reserved. This website is not intended for users located within the European Economic Area.\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Defense Department has received an anonymous $130 million donation to fund military salaries amid the ongoing government…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":331221,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[164402,117152,164403,69,49089,51,8119,19095,50,148105,52],"class_list":{"0":"post-331220","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-news","8":"tag-antideficiency-act","9":"tag-continuing-resolution","10":"tag-defense-appropriation-bill","11":"tag-donald-trump","12":"tag-government-shutdown","13":"tag-headlines","14":"tag-mike-johnson","15":"tag-ndaa","16":"tag-news","17":"tag-pay-our-troops-act","18":"tag-top-stories"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115434062478726557","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/331220","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=331220"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/331220\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/331221"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=331220"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=331220"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=331220"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}