Tester & Colleagues to Defense Department: Reinstate Funding for Stars and Stripes Newspaper

“Stars and Stripes is an essential part of our nation’s freedom of the press that serves the very population charged with defending that freedom”

U.S. Senator Jon Tester, Ranking Member of the Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee, joined a bipartisan group of Senators yesterday in calling on the Defense Department to reinstate funding for the Stars and Stripes newspaper. The Defense Department currently plans to stop publishing the newspaper at the end of this month and dissolve the organization by January 31, 2021.

“Stars and Stripes is an essential part of our nation’s freedom of the press that serves the very population charged with defending that freedom,” the Senators wrote to Defense Secretary Mark Esper. “Therefore, we respectfully request that you rescind your decision to discontinue support for Stars and Stripes and that you reinstate the funding necessary for it to continue operations.”

Stars and Stripes is a historically significant publication in the United States, providing independent, nonpartisan, and award-winning journalism to more than 1.4 million readers among active duty forces, veterans, civilians, and their families.

In addition to Tester, the letter is signed by Senators Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), John Boozman (R-Ark.), Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), Jerry Moran (R-Kan.), Patty Murray (D-Wash.), Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.), Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), Doug Jones (D-Ala.), Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio), Maggie Hassan (D-N.H.), Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.), Kyrsten Sinema (D-Ariz.), and Susan Collins (R-Maine).

Read the Senators’ full letter to Esper HERE.