Discover Magazine's Bad Astronomy says it best:
"NASA is a tiny, tiny part of the federal budget, far less than 1%. There are other places where money can be found, other places where cuts make more sense.
Reducing NASA’s budget for Mars exploration frees up 0.01% of the federal budget. That’s it. One ten-thousandth of what we spend overall, a hundredth of a penny for every dollar.
Science is the future. Our economy depends on many things, but science, engineering, and technology represent a huge portion of its support."
If "the space exploration arena has been an area of emphasis for the Obama Administration from the outset," then we ask that you give NASA the funds it needs for it's planned missions.