Stars and Stripes was DEFUNDED in FY21 and that's the reason it's going away in 4 Weeks

[KewlKat]

This article came out in Feb of this year - SOURCE

Stars and Stripes publishes a newspaper Mondays through Thursdays and weekend editions for overseas consumers who may not have access to mobile devices. The publication says it distributed more than 7 million copies of its U.S. Weekly edition last year, and printed more than 4 million special publications in the U.S. and overseas.

“Stars and Stripes has provided a valuable service to millions of military members and the Department of Defense (DoD) for more than 70 years," Pentagon spokesman Lt. Col. Christopher Logan said in a statement to Military Times. "Their hard work and dedication in reporting on issues that matter the most to the military community continues to be of value.”

“However, as we look forward to the current budget proposal and beyond, the DoD must prioritize spending to support our warfighters in the most critical areas of need," Logan said. "Therefore, the Department has made the difficult decision that, beginning in fiscal year 2021, it will no longer provide appropriated funds to Stars and Stripes.”

The $15 million currently on the line is significantly higher than preliminary estimates suggested.



Stars and Stripes' mission is not to communicate the DoD or command message, but to be an independent, First Amendment publication that serves the troops -- especially deployed troops. So her 'we communicate' misses the mission.




I guess I must have missed the initial assault on the publication. We should have all been screaming for months, but COVID has had our attention instead. Too many things happening while we all try to survive COVID.

[Tanuki]

1. $15 million equals 5 Trump golf junkets to Mar-a-lago

Think of what a small personal sacrifice it would take for him to cover the cost of providing this important source of support, information, and continuity to the entire military force.

[mahina]

2. This really is kind of unimaginable

The new director of all publications is a Trump sycophant. He destroyed the editorial integrity of all publishing and broadcasts, voice of America and all of that but this publication is lifeline for many.

Is there any way it could be postponed? How difficult to put it back together?

He is a wrecking ball for Putin

[KewlKat]

3. Unfortunately Congress approves the budget and FY21 was put to bed. It would I think take action

on the part of Congress to fund them now. I'm not sure it can be done, out of my area. The Pentagon didn't fight to keep it when they had the chance. I know my agency was cut to the bone.

[muriel_volestrangler]

5. When was FY21 "put to bed"?

See, for instance, from the past day:

The House and Senate are in talks to pass a continuing resolution before fiscal 2020 ends Sept. 30 in order to prevent a government shutdown. Congress has stalled on a new coronavirus relief package, and only the House has passed appropriations bills, which means Congress will need more time to pass an FY21 appropriations package.

https://www.defensenews.com/naval/2020/09/03/budge-dysfunction-threatens-delays-to-us-navys-columbia-program/

[muriel_volestrangler]

4. It was not defunded in February; the White House said they *wanted* to defund it

and put forward a budget proposal that did so. The Democrats in the House then passed a budget proposal that kept the funding going. The budget has not yet been passed. The DoD is now ordering Stars & Stripes to shut this month, despite no budget being passed, yet (and that budget applying to next year, not this month).

Not screaming about this might be reasonable; the Congressional Democrats were correctly resisting it. Until this diktat from the White House to shut down without concern for what happens in the budget.