Senator Collins Joins Bipartisan Group in Calling on Defense Department to Reinstate Funding for Stars & Stripes Newspaper

Washington, D.C. – U.S. Senator Susan Collins (R-ME) joined Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) and a bipartisan group of their colleagues in calling on the Department of Defense to reinstate funding for the Stars and Stripes newspaper.  The Department of Defense currently plans to stop publishing the newspaper at the end of this month and dissolve the organization by January 31, 2021.

“The $15.5 million currently allocated for the publication of Stars and Stripes is only a tiny fraction of your Department’s annual budget, and cutting it would have a significantly negative impact on military families and a negligible impact on the Department’s bottom line,” the Senators wrote.  “Stars and Stripes is a historically significant publication in our country.  It originated during the Civil War and has been published continuously since World War II to provide independent, nonpartisan, and award-winning journalism to more than 1.4 million readers among our active duty forces, veterans, civilians, and their families.” 

“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 continued.  “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.”

Along with Senators Collins and Feinstein, the letter was signed by Senators Maggie Hassan (D-NH), John Boozman (R-AR), Dick Durbin (D-IL), Jerry Moran (R-KS), Patty Murray (D-WA), Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV), Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), Christopher Van Hollen (D-MD), Doug Jones (D-AL), Sherrod Brown (D-OH), Tammy Duckworth (D-IL), Jon Tester (D-MT), and Kyrsten Sinema (D-AZ).

Click HERE to read the full letter.

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