There's no money for either
Wake up from the fantasies we'd all love to believe. The sad fact of the matter is that we all need to know political reality when it slaps us in the face. While "political reality" sounds like an oxymoron, the simple truth is that until there's strong support in the White House and Congress for an ambitious expansion of the space program - be it returning to the moon or going to Mars - it isn't going to happen. There is no such support today nor is there likely to be any in the foreseeable future.