The White Houses budget director justified proposed cuts to the Corporation for Public Broadcasting by saying that its not fair to ask a single mom in Detroit or a coal miner to pay for it.

The Corporation for Public Broadcasting funds PBS, which airs Sesame Street and other childrens shows. President Donald Trumps federal budget plan, released on Thursday morning, proposes axing federal funding for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, as well as the National Endowment for the Arts and the National Endowment for the Humanities.

When you start looking at places that we reduce spending, one of the questions we asked was can we really continue to ask a coal miner in West Virginia or a single mom in Detroit to pay for these programs? The answer was no, Mick Mulvaney told MSNBCs Morning Joe on Thursday. We can ask them to pay for defense, and we will, but we cant ask them to continue to pay for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.

Sesame Street partnered with HBO last year after years of financial struggles. While new episodes first air on the premium cable network, PBS still airs reruns that viewers can watch for free.

The Trump administration plans to increase military spending by $54 billion. In comparison, the CPB receives less than $500 million per year from the federal government.

The notion that peoples tax dollars shouldnt be spent on programs they dont use is confusing enough; by that logic, the taxes from people without children wouldnt go toward public schools and people who drive to work wouldnt pay for public transportation. But Mulvaneys comment is especially bizarre considering Sesame Streets viewership: parents and their children.

CPB, which supports NPR and PBS, currently receives about $485 million per year, according to The Washington Post . As it rolled out its budget this week, the Trump administration was unequivocal about its plans to end federal support for CPB as part of a number of steep cuts to pay for an increase in defense spending.

We proposed ending funding, but technically what youll seeits an eliminationbut youll see an amount of money in the budget, and it is some amount of money thats necessary for us to unwind our involvement with CPB, Mick Mulvaney, the director of the Office of Management and Budget, told reporters on Wednesday . So you wont see a zero next to it, but the policy is that were ending federal involvement with the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.

Patricia Harrison, president and CEO of CPB, said in a statement that the elimination of federal funds would be devastating.

There is no viable substitute for federal funding that ensures Americans have universal access to public medias educational and informational programming and services, Harrison said. The elimination of federal funding to CPB would initially devastate and ultimately destroy public medias role in early childhood education, public safety, connecting citizens to our history, and promoting civil discussions all for Americans in both rural and urban communities.

Public media is one of Americas best investments. At approximately $1.35 per citizen per year, it pays huge dividends to every American, she continued.

Former Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney was chastised during the 2012 election for proposing cutting PBS funding .

Trump could fund CPB, which was created as a nonprofit by Congress in 1967, for 121 years with the $54 billion he is seeking to increase military spending, according to The Washington Post.