Arecibo Observatory--mistake to cut funding?

This article on the proposed funding cuts to the Arecibo Observatory by the National Science Foundation is one I've read before. The bad news it relates is that the funding cuts will shut down the major source of asteroid tracking we have. It also eliminates the best radar observatory from use. No indication why this project was selected except perhaps that it doesn't fit in with the massive efforts directed toward global warming or toward string theory investigations, the two most popular topics I've seen discussed related to astronomy. I'm not an expert on all the National Science Foundation projects, yet it seems to me, that with planned NASA and other agency efforts for the moon and Mars coming up, that our solar system should have increasing levels of interest and need for information. Or perhaps I'd just like to cover my head from any impending disasters headed my way from the heavens.