Either way, they'll be funding something that works rather than pie-in-the-sky stuff Bush wants that detracts from projects already planned that were perfectly valid. The returning to the Moon plan is really just to teach the Chinese a lesson. Wake me up when we're going to Mars, then I'll accept the direction the bean counters are forcing NASA to go.
The fiscal 2006 "defense" budget of $419.3 billion represents a 4.8 percent increase over fiscal 2005 This budget does not include an expected administration request for $80 billion in supplemental appropriations, including $75 billion for the Defense Department to cover the cost of military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan in the current fiscal year. The Department of Homeland Security is proposing a budget of $29.3 billion for fiscal 2006, an increase of $258 million, or 1 percent. NASA won a significant 2006 budget increase yesterday to $16.5 billion Those numbers are from the washington post - I don't know how accurate they are now but rest assured it makes me sick either way... Consider how much NASA has contributed to the world with what the DOD and Homelandsecurity has done to fuck it up...
It seems in my (uninformed) opinion that Hubble has been one of the best "bang for the buck" in terms of space exploration yet. They should keep it operational as long as it's feasible IMO
