Elmo has a friend, indeed.
Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries,D-N.Y., brought along a stuffed friend to help make a point on the House floor Thursday.
Jeffries held up a stuffed Elmo doll while accusing Republicans of targeting beloved children’s shows like ‘Sesame Street’ in their push to slash federal spending.
‘Today, we are on the floor of the House of Representatives debating legislation that targets Elmo. And Big Bird. And Daniel Tiger and ‘Sesame Street,” Jeffries said, waving the puppet as he railed against the GOP-led rescissions package.
The moment, widely circulated online, came during debate over the Republican-backed Proposed Rescissions of Budgetary Resources from President Trump, which would eliminate over $9 billion in unspent or low-priority federal funds.
Among the targeted programs: $3 million in taxpayer support for an international version of Sesame Street in Iraq.
Democrats objected to what they characterized as cultural and humanitarian vandalism disguised as fiscal responsibility. Rep. Sydney Kamlager-Dove, D-Calif., delivered one of the sharpest lines of the day: ‘While you all have killed off Elmo, I urge my colleagues to vote no on this trash and I yield back,’ Garcia said.
Republicans dismissed the theatrics and defended the package as a commonsense rollback of bloated, ideological spending. The bill also includes broader cuts to the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which supports PBS and NPR, long-time targets of fiscal conservatives who argue the taxpayer shouldn’t subsidize public media.
Rep. Lisa McClain, R-Mich., rebutted, ‘I never realized Elmo was more important to my colleagues on the other side of the aisle than the American people.’
House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, R-La., pushed back forcefully: ‘The Minority Leader held up a Sesame Street character here on the floor as if Sesame Street’s somehow going to go away,’ Scalise said.
‘I was watching a commercial on TV yesterday where the Cookie Monster was actually doing an advertisement for Netflix because a private company is paying money to run Sesame Street. It’s not going away. It’s doing just fine. Very lucrative.’
Scalise argued the bill doesn’t threaten Sesame Street’s survival, only its taxpayer subsidy, and called out what he described as ‘far-left, radical views’ being promoted through outlets like NPR and PBS.
‘There is still going to be a plethora of options for the American people,’ he said. ‘But if they are paying their hard-earned dollars to get content, why should your tax dollars go to only one thing that the other side wants to promote?’
He concluded bluntly: ‘They can still watch Sesame Street in Iraq. But let the Iraqi people pay for it — not the taxpayers of the United States of America’s children.’
Even more eyebrow‑raising was the inclusion of taxpayer‑funded global health spending for procedures like circumcisions.
Among the line items flagged by GOP lawmakers: $3 million to subsidize circumcisions, vasectomies and condoms in Zambia, alongside similar grants for transgender surgeries in Nepal. Republicans contended that pulling back these types of low-impact or ideological slush funds was a logical first step toward returning more than $9 billion to the U.S. Treasury.
The bill passed the House Appropriations Committee earlier this week and Senate Democrats have signaled strong opposition.
The bill passed the House in a 214–212 vote. Four Republicans, Reps. Mark Amodei, R-Nev.; Mike Turner, R-Ohio; Brian Fitzpatrick, R-Pa.; and Nicole Malliotakis, R-N.Y., broke ranks to vote against the bill. All Democrats voted no.