Maybe now, don't know, but they did start back in 1969. Did they ever give back that taxpayer funding back to the taxpayers? I doubt it and there is the famous Bill Clinton quote(paraphrasing), Republicans are trying to defund Big Bird.
BINGO. Every time the GOP tried to defund the DNC "public" networks, the left started crying that "da chillens" won't have Sesame Street to babysit them anymore. Whether the government was funding Sesame Street or not, THE FAR LEFTIES wanted you to believe it was.