Sen. Chris Coons (D-Del.) defended the use of taxpayer dollars to fund USAID programs such as the Iraqi version of Sesame Street, arguing that the initiative promotes positive values and public health in the region.

Coons made his remarks during a Saturday appearance on CNN with political commentator Michael Smerconish.

“This isn’t just funding a kids’ show for children — millions of children — in countries like Iraq,” Coons said.

“It’s a show that helps teach values, helps teach public health, helps prevent kids from dying from dysentery and disease and helps push values like collaboration, peacefulness, and cooperation in a society where the alternative is ISIS [the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham], extremism, and terrorism.”

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Coons justified the spending by comparing USAID’s $30 billion budget to the U.S. Department of Defense’s $850 billion annual budget, calling it “pennies on the dollar.”

He also cited a statement from Joseph Nye Jr., a former aide to President Bill Clinton, who referred to such spending as “not just soft power; it’s smart power.”

USAID, in partnership with Sesame Workshop, produced Ahlan Simsim—Arabic for “Welcome Sesame”—as a regional program for children in Iraq and other Middle Eastern countries. According to a now-unavailable USAID website, the show was intended to “promote inclusion, mutual respect, and understanding.”

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The discussion around USAID funding for international programs follows criticism from the White House over what it has labeled as wasteful spending.

A recent White House fact sheet highlighted USAID’s funding of various Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) and LGBTQ programs in countries such as Guatemala and Ireland.

Smerconish noted that in a “soundbite-driven world, it’s so easy to deride how much we’re spending on an LBGTQ [sic] show in Bogota [Colombia].”

Coons responded by dismissing the spending concerns, calling such funding examples “Kryptonite examples” that cost significantly less than President George W. Bush’s President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR).

During the interview, Coons referenced a past argument made by General James Mattis, who served as Secretary of Defense under President Donald Trump.

NEW: Senator Chris Coons says the U.S. spending $20 million on Sesame Street in Iraq is absolutely necessary for US taxpayers to spend their money on.

Coons says Sesame Street in Iraq is preventing kids from dying.

“This isn’t just funding a kids show for children, millions of… pic.twitter.com/m6Vuy3H3r9

— Collin Rugg (@CollinRugg) February 8, 2025

At a 2013 Senate military budget hearing, Mattis said, “[I]f you don’t fund the State Department fully then I need to buy more ammunition ultimately. So I think it’s a cost-benefit ratio. The more that we put into the State Department’s diplomacy, hopefully the less we have to put into a military budget as we deal with the outcome of an apparent American withdrawal from the international scene.”

Coons also criticized what he called the challenges of governing in a “short attention span era,” saying that “a brief tweet from Elon Musk or Donald Trump often trumps a two-minute or a three-minute explanation.”

He warned that China and Russia have been increasing their influence worldwide, stating that they are “celebrating the death of USAID.”

As debates continue over the effectiveness and necessity of USAID’s global programs, funding decisions for such initiatives are likely to remain a point of contention in U.S. policy discussions.

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