President Trump is donating his first quarter salary to the National Parks Service – White House spokesman Sean Spicer made the announcement at his daily briefing. Trump has said he will not take a salary while in the White House, but later noted that he’d donated it to charity – at one point, he suggested he’d even allow reporters to decide the beneficiary.
A check of more than 78-thousand dollars was given to Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke [[ ZINK-ee ]]. “I get my inspiration from Teddy Roosevelt,” he told reporters after accepting the check. “And the motto now in the Department of Interior, if you go to Yellowstone and you have the opportunity to look at the Roosevelt Arch, it says, inscribed in stone is: "For the benefit and enjoyment of the people." And that's our pledge.
There are some who find Mr. Trump’s choice of beneficiary especially interesting as his proposed budget includes a cut of $1.5-billion, or 12%, from the Interior Department, which oversees the park service and other agencies. So where will this new cash go? “We're going to dedicate it and put it against the infrastructure on our nation's battlefields,” Zinke explained. “We're about $100 [million] or $229-million behind in deferred maintenance on our battlefields alone, and that's on our 25 national battlefields. And we're excited about that opportunity.”