Hours before President Obama arrived at the Capitol Tuesday for the State of the Union address, Elmo made an appearance on the floor of the U.S. House as a guest of Minnesota Democrat Keith Ellison, who was there to make a point about Republican efforts to freeze Palestinian aid. According to Ellison, U.S. funds help underwrite Simsim, a Palestinian version of Sesame Street. Without it, he says Palestinian kids will be left watching mouse-like figures like Farfour, the main character on a Hamas TV show for children. (Who knew?) "That means no Elmo," Ellison said. "Only Farfour teaching extremism."