Defunding ``Sesame Street''

Floor Speech

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Mr. LARSON of Connecticut. Mr. Speaker, again, I want to commend Nancy Pelosi, Speaker Emerita, for always making judgments, and sitting next to President Kennedy certainly was one of them, as well. What a great story.

We are here today because oftentimes, Mr. Speaker, as you might know, there isn't enough bipartisanship.

Today I rise, since the Speaker Emerita mentioned President Kennedy, to talk about profiles in courage. I commend the Republicans and my colleagues on the other side of the aisle for the courage they demonstrated when they decided to get rid of ``Sesame Street.''

I don't know how many people know this, but a lot of people think that ``Sesame Street'' is about the education of children, especially in rural areas, and teaching the basics, like reading, writing, and arithmetic. However, our colleagues on the other side have pointed out that: No, this is about wokeism, and it has a direct impact on reconciliation, reconsideration, and inquiries of resolution. Those are three Rs that I didn't know about.

I had to explain to my daughter when she said: Do you mean your granddaughter won't see these programs?

I said: Well, I went to Jim Himes on the Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, and I asked him if he had heard anything about wokeism or what does woke mean?

Jim looked around the room. He was a little cautious, and he said: Well, woke means we are okay with Elmo.

I didn't realize that the Republicans had actually broken the code, and that anyone who is okay with Elmo has to be suspect of wokeism.

He further said to me: We have discovered that this is a real issue.

I said: What is the threat that exists here? Has there been a classified briefing on this? Are we aware of this?

He said: No, there has been no classified briefing yet, but there is grave concern about the Cookie Monster. Anytime you have ``monster'' in your name, the American people ought to be made aware of it, and you ought to be vitally concerned about what kind of habit this monster could create.

I couldn't believe it. Imagine, Mr. Speaker, for more than 50 years, they have been providing this kind of education, teaching kids how to read, write, and to inquire, but it was all code. This was part of leftwing wokeism. Regarding the Cookie Monster, that should have been obvious.

He said that a lot of people are wondering why the supreme Commander in Chief had been talking about Greenland, other invasions, and everything like this.

There is grave concern, and I asked Rosa DeLauro if she had heard about this. She is a known friend of Big Bird, and because of that relationship, she, obviously, along with others, is locked into this wokeism that has been plaguing the country.

I didn't even get into the relationship that Joe Courtney had with Bert and Ernie on the Armed Services Committee. However, Mr. Speaker, you can only imagine the job and the skill that our colleagues used on the other side to say that we have to end the public funding of this because of the great threat that this poses to our democracy.

How could we possibly let the Cookie Monster run rampant like this? Where was everybody? How did it take so long?

However, the supreme commander was able to figure it out, and his willing partners joined with him in making sure that ``Sesame Street'' was banned. I congratulate him. We are nominating him for Profiles in Courage.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Source