The Pentagon will be shutting down Stars and Stripes, a long-time American military newspaper, according to a memo.
Stars and Stripes was first published on Nov. 9, 1861 and has since produced multiple well-know reporters. It currently prints around the world and gets delivered every day to troops, even those on the front lines, according to USA Today.
“The last newspaper publication (in all forms) will be September 30, 2020,” Col. Paul Haverstick Jr. wrote in the memo according to USA Today. (RELATED: Pentagon Effectively Bans Confederate Flags On Military Property, Skirts Around Trump’s Objections)
JUST IN: In a heretofore unpublicized recent memo, Pentagon delivers order to shutter @starsandstripes, a newspaper that has been a lifeline and a voice for American troops since the Civil War. Last publication (in all forms) will be Sept. 30. https://t.co/5DLHalA3Ew @kathykiely
— Evan Rosenfeld (@Evan_Rosenfeld) September 4, 2020
The memo notes that Stars and Stripes must have a plan that “dissolves the Stars and Stripes” by Sept. 15. This plan will have to include a “specific timeline for vacating government owned/leased spaces worldwide,” the memo adds.
The Trump administration’s push to shut down Stars and Stripes hasn’t been approved by Congress yet, and the House Appropriations Committee restored funding to it earlier in 2020.
The Senate has not yet officially disputed the move, but 15 members sent a letter urging Defense Secretary Mark Esper to keep the paper, according to USA Today. The letter, signed by four Republicans, combat veteran and Democratic Illinois Sen. Tammy Duckworth and others asked Esper to “take steps to preserve the funding prerogatives of Congress before allowing any such disruption to take place.”