What we know about claims USAID funded 'Sesame Street' TV show in Iraq

During a news conference on Feb. 5, 2025, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt claimed that the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) had set aside $20 million in funding to develop a "Sesame Street" TV show in Iraq.

At around the 33:29 mark of the above video, Leavitt said: 

And I would just say a strong message to Democrats who are out there pretending to be outraged about the long list of crap that this administration is cutting federal waste and funding like $2 million for sex changes in Guatemala, $6 million to fund tourism in Egypt, $20 million on a new Sesame Street show in Iraq, $4.5 million to combat disinformation in Kazakhstan. I could go on and on and I'm happy to provide this list to every single one of you.

The press secretary's remarks came as the Trump administration was targeting USAID for cuts or dismantling. 

Sen. Joni Ernst of Iowa repeated the claim on Feb. 13 during a U.S. Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs hearing. Ernst is the chair of the Senate DOGE Caucus, supporting tech billionaire Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).

However, the claim appears to conflate a kids' TV show featuring "Sesame Street" characters and broadcast in Arabic across numerous countries, including Iraq, with a USAID-funded educational project called Ahlan Simsim Iraq. An archived page from the USAID website shows the agency provided funding for Ahlan Simsim Iraq in 2021. The name "Ahlan Simsim" applies to both the TV show and an early childhood development program targeting families in conflict zones. 

The archived USAID webpage said the agency would provide $20 million in funding to Sesame Workshop, the nonprofit behind "Sesame Street," between July 2021 and June 2027 to produce Ahlan Simsim Iraq, the early childhood development program.

A Sesame Workshop spokesperson said via email that the "Ahlan Simsim" TV show is funded separately from the Ahlan Simsim Iraq early childhood development program. They added that only the latter received USAID money.

However, usaspending.gov, an open data source of federal spending information, only lists $18.2 million in obligated funding for Sesame Workshop during this period — one $13 million grant starting in July 2021 and one $5.2 million grant starting in September 2021. According to usaspending.gov, only $473,784 of the two grants had been "outlayed," or paid out to the Sesame Workshop, at the time of this writing, meaning the rest of the funding was yet to be paid.

Snopes contacted the White House, Sen. Joni Ernst's office, Sesame Workshop and USAID's Office of Inspector General for comment on the source of the $20 million figure on the archived USAID page. None of them provided context for the discrepancy between USAID and usaspending.gov. Additionally, Sesame Workshop would not confirm how much of the pledged funding was paid out by February 2025.

Despite the funding discrepancy, one thing remains clear: According to Sesame Workshop, the recipient of USAID's grant, USAID money only funded the Ahlan Simsim Iraq early childhood development program. This program did include localized content which leveraged the existing "Ahlan Simsim" TV show. However, the two initiatives, though bearing a similar name, are funded separately. 

A Sesame Workshop spokesperson said that the "Ahlan Simsim" TV show was funded "through separate philanthropic funding," not USAID grants to Ahlan Simsim Iraq. The spokesperson further explained:

The USAID-funded "Ahlan Simsim Iraq" program supports the creation of local content and materials, which include localized media content to reach children at scale and teaching and learning materials like storybooks, activity books, classroom materials, and training and facilitators guides for teachers for use in early childhood development centers to improve children's learning by training teachers, parents, caregivers, and youth leaders.