President Trump has donated his first-quarter salary to the Department of Veterans Affairs.
“In keeping with his campaign pledge, the President donates his salary on a quarterly basis to further important projects,” White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders announced last week. “Today, the President is proud to donate his 2018 first-quarter salary to the Department of Veterans Affairs to support their caregiver programs.”
Acting Secretary of Veterans Affairs Robert Wilkie accepted the donation on behalf of the department and thanked the President for his generosity.
The announcement is also a chance to highlight the legislation passed by the House earlier this month regarding reform in the VA.
Trump donates his $100,000 presidential paycheck to VA caregivers. https://t.co/JCzYZipLOT pic.twitter.com/PnOm9ztfVj
— Navy Times (@NavyTimes) May 17, 2018
The VA’s Caregiver Programs
The President’s donation has been designated to support the VA’s caregiver programs. These include “mental health and peer support programs, financial aid, education training, and research.”
Acting Secretary Wilkie said that “the President’s gift underscores his promise to do all that he can for veterans, which includes supporting those who care for our veterans—not just those of us at VA, but the husbands, the wives, the families, and the community caregivers who are out there day in and day out making life easier for those who have borne the battle.”
The VA’s Caregiver Programs address the needs of those who care for and support veterans. This includes both professional providers as well as family and friends who provide much needed support and care.
The Department of Veterans Affairs Strategic Plan for Fiscal Year 2018 – 2024 outlines some of its priorities over the next 5 years.
The 5 main priorities of the plan are greater choice, improve timeliness, suicide prevention, focus resources, and system modernization.
Presidential Paycheck
Then-candidate Trump famously promised in his campaign that he “won’t even take one dollar” as President. Trump has followed through on his 2015 campaign promise.
The President’s previous salary donations include the Department of Transportation, the National Park Service, the Department of Education, and the Department of Health and Human Services.
The President’s salary is mandated under the Constitution. It states that “the President shall, at stated Times, receive for his Services, a Compensation, which shall neither be increased not diminished during the Period for which he shall have been elected, and he shall not receive within that Period any other Emolument from the United States, or any of them.”
This Constitutional provision is important because it ensures transparency in the office of the Presidency. The President is compensated financially for his service, as is any other elected official. The Constitution also specifically prohibits the President from receiving “other emolument,” or salary or profit, from his work as President.
In his inaugural address in 1789, our first President George Washington wanted to “decline as inapplicable to myself, any share in the personal emoluments” of the office of President.
(Credit: Facebook/USA TODAY)
President Washington did, however, end up taking a salary of $25,000. This set the precedent that the President would be financially compensated, allowing him to avoid potential conflicts of interest due to financial gain or loss.
Trump is constitutionally required to not only “take one dollar,” but he must accept the salary of $400,000. Donating his salary is one way to both maintain the transparency of the office and eschew personal financial gain.
While the specific amount of Trump’s donation was not disclosed, it can be assumed that it was around $100,000, one quarter of his annual paycheck.
Other Presidents who donated their salaries to worthy causes include John F. Kennedy and Herbert Hoover.
