Actually, NASA's budget is often one of the first budgets to get cut. In fact, Obama was proposing to cut the Constellation budget in November to fund education.

One reason they continue to support space exploration is because the technology they have created has also allowed them to discover important information about Earth itself that pertains to the atmospheric conditions. I also think that it's important to look ahead. Let's face it. This planet is not getting any bigger, despite the fact that the human population is constantly growing. In order to continue to thrive as a species it makes sense to branch out into the surrounding galaxy if such a venture is possible. The only way we will be able to discover that possibility is through continued funding and exploration.

Not only that, but continued study and exploration is absolutely essential if we are to understand the way the universe we are just a tiny part of. Not only does NASA promote things like the Mission to Mars, but they also monitor things like asteroid and comet movement. If they were to lose funding that allows them to continue monitoring these types of things, we could find ourselves facing a very real catastrophe without enough time to react.

Another prime reason is America's competitiveness with the space programs in other countries.
Source(s):
http://www.astrobiology.com/news/viewsr.html?pid=19644
http://www.spacepolitics.com/2007/11/20/obama-cut-constellation-to-pay-for-...
http://www.barackobama.com/issues/pdf/PreK-12EducationFactSheet.pdf
http://www.dailypress.com/news/dp-local_nasaharvey_1209dec09,0,4842858.stor...

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