Mr. Elmo Monster goes to Washington

Source: Celebrities Who Have Testified to Congress, by U.S. News

In honor of Sesame Street’s forty-second anniversary, we are featuring Mr. Elmo Monster’s testimony before the House Appropriations Committee’s Subcommittee on the Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services, Education and Related Agencies. He appeared before the Subcommittee on April 23, 2002 with Joe Lamond, the President and CEO of the International Music Productions Association. Mr. Monster and Mr. Lamond were testifying on behalf of music education. Elmo said he was very nervous to appear before the Subcommittee. Maybe it was the suit?

Elmo, the first and only non-human to testify before Congress, shared his learning experience with the Subcommittee. He explained,

Elmo learned all kinds of things about music, like anyone can make music. The whole world is full of music … music helped Elmo learn the alphabet. If it wasn’t for the ABC song, Elmo would be lost, people.

You can read Elmo’s testimony by clicking on the scans above. We hope you enjoy reading it as much as we did!

Printed hearing, 4/23/2002, Records of the U.S House of Representatives