President Donald Trump donated his second quarter salary to the department of education, the White House announced Wednesday. Education Secretary Betsy DeVos said the money will go toward a STEM camp in Washington, D.C. (Saul Loeb/AFP/Getty Images)
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The White House announced Wednesday that President Donald Trump is donating his second-quarter salary back to the American taxpayers.
White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders made the announcement before reporters at the daily White House press briefing. The amount of Trump's second quarter salary is $100,000. The president's annual salary totals $400,000.
Huckabee Sanders welcomed Education Secretary Betsy DeVos to the briefing room lectern to explain exactly what the money will be used for.
Standing in front of two televisions, each showing a picture of the $100,000 check signed by the billionaire president, DeVos said the funds will help pay for a science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) camp for kids at the Education Department in Washington, D.C.
"We want to encourage as many children as possible to explore STEM fields in the hope that many develop a passion for these fields," DeVos said.
Trump donated his first quarter salary to the National Park Service. Those funds are being used to restore two Civil War-era battlefields.
Huckabee Sanders said Wednesday that after Trump's first quarter, additional donors gave an extra $160,000 for the same projects.
Trump is the third president in American history to forego a salary, according to the Independent Journal Review. President Herbert Hoover donated his presidential salary to charity in the early 1900s. And in the 1960s, John F. Kennedy became the wealthiest man ever elected president and decided to give up his salary.
White House reporters and media pundits took to Twitter and used the president's gesture as a way to criticize him for pushing to cut the education department's budget by billions of dollars.
After proposing a $9 billion cut, Trump is making a $100,000 salary donation to the Ed. Dept. https://t.co/bs0FIeCx7i
— adam harris (@AdamHSays) July 26, 2017
Trump donating $100,000 to the Department of Education, WH announces.
His budget calls for a $9 billion cut.
— Sam Stein (@samstein) July 26, 2017
Trump's donation to Dept of Education: $100,000.
Spending cut to education in Trump's proposed 2018 budget: $9,200,000,000.
— Peter Alexander (@PeterAlexander) July 26, 2017
Trump budget cuts to Department of Education: $9,200,000,000
Trump salary donation to Department of Education: $100,000#MAGA
— Judd Legum (@JuddLegum) July 26, 2017
Trump is donating $100,000 of his salary to the Education Department, which is about .001% of the $9.2 billion his budget cut from education
— Molly Hensley-Clancy (@mollyhc) July 26, 2017
Earlier this year, the White House released a FY 2018 budget that proposed cutting $9 billion from the Department of Education.
(H/T: The Hill)
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