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Relative size and Priority of the NASA budget
The actual annual percentage of the federal budget needed to return astronauts to the Moon is very small, less than 1%, when compared to the total Congressional/White House budget. It is also small when compared with the percentage spent on domestic programs, and other higher priority budget items.
The annual NASA budget won't have to increase much to achieve astronauts return to the Moon. Most of the funds will come from rearrangement of internal NASA funds, as a result of retiring the Space Shuttle. Properly funded, there will not be many re-designs increasing the cost of return to the Moon.
If NASA were eliminated, the gulf coast states would lose over 100,000 jobs. This includes direct NASA and aerospace contractor jobs. These are jobs, with livable incomes, that would be lost. Most people losing their jobs would have a difficult time finding new employment, due to lack of need for their specialties, as was the case with the past Apollo Program cutbacks. This would hurt hurricane disaster rebuilding efforts, by eliminating a major gulf coast employer.
For more information on space economics and space commercialization, visit the "Space Commercialization" website provided by the Utah Space Association.