The budget for NASA is currently at only .5%. The highest it has ever gone was 4.66% in 1966 in the buildup to landing man on the Moon.
We currently don't have the technology to protect the planet from an incoming asteroid on an Earth Intercept. We will not be able to obtain the technology to do so without increased funding.
Funding NASA at no less than 10% of federal budget would allow for the creation of jobs, an increase in innovation, and most importantly would allow NASA to put man on Mars and other bodies in the solar system on a much quicker time frame than is currently possible. Not to mention technology developed could be used in defense of Earth from space.