Elon goes for Elmo as DOGE hearing breaks into | Political News

A Republican-led subcommittee hearing to grill PBS and NPR management on Wednesday quickly descended into chaos over Elon Musk slashing the workforce with Department of Government Efficiency efforts. 

Committee chair Marjorie Taylor Greene and different Republican members leveled accusations in opposition to the 2 public media organizations for being “radical, left-wing echo chambers” that unfold “anti-American” bias and brainwashed kids with a “communist” agenda.

NPR CEO Katherine Maher and PBS CEO Paula Kerger tried to defend their missions as Republicans known as for the organizations to be stripped of their taxpayer funding, echoing the long-term demand by President Donald Trump and ‘First Buddy’ Musk. 

“For far too long, federal taxpayers have been forced to fund biased news,” Greene stated in the beginning of the hearing. “This needs to come to an end. And it needs to come to an end now.”

Committee Democrats, nonetheless, took a totally different strategy to defend PBS programming, lashing out at Musk.

Rep. Greg Casar had a “Fire Elon, Save Elmo” signal behind him, referring to the beloved Sesame Street character, when he requested, “How many millions of dollars a month do taxpayers spend for Daniel Tiger to play golf?”

“Has Miss Piggy ever been caught trying to funnel billions of dollars in government contracts to herself and her companies?” he went on to say, including, “How about Arthur the Aardvark? Has he ever fired government watchdogs investigating his companies? … Maybe you’re trying to defund NPR because they expose this type of corruption.”

Casar stated that the funding for the pubic broadcasters is one-sixth of what Musk, the richest man on the planet, makes.

Casar didn’t mince his phrases when he stated, “But you’ll not see Elon Musk being grilled by this committee. I’ve seen a lot, but pointing the finger at Elmo to cover for Elon Musk might be a new low for Marjorie Taylor Greene’s committee.”

Corporation for Public Broadcasting receives roughly $500 million from Congress. NPR receives 1% of its funding from the federal authorities, whereas member stations that produce native information get almost 10%.

15% of PBS’s funding comes from the federal government, whereas the bulk of the funding goes to native, non-commercial and not-for-profit radio and TV systems that serve predominant information deserts.

Democratic Rep. Stephen Lynch criticized the committee for having “stooped to the lowest levels of partisanship and political theater to hold a hearing to go after the likes of Elmo and Cookie Monster and Arthur the Aardvark.”

“All for the unforgivable sin of teaching the alphabet to low-income families’ children and providing accessible local news and program,” Lynch stated.

Musk’s growing affect has made him an unpopular determine amongst Democrats. Sweeping cuts within the federal workforce initiated by DOGE may result in a drop in tax income as Musk continues to call for the US to “delete entire agencies” from the federal authorities.

“The people voted for major government reform, and that’s what the people are going to get,” the tech billionaire stated in February. “That’s what democracy is all about.”