Here's an article speculating that NASA might close some centers to save funds:

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-nasa23mar23,1,1494956.story?coll=la%2Dheadlines%2Dnation

Would a center closure or more really be that politically difficult? According to this TaxFoundation.org chart:

http://www.taxfoundation.org/pr-fedtaxspendingratio99.html

for every tax dollar that Virginia sent to Washington D.C. in 1999, it got back $1.53. That was the 7th highest rate-of-return in the entire country. And as for former Senate Majority Leader Senator Trent Lott's Mississippi, for every dollar it sent to Washington in 1999 it got back $1.69, giving that state the nation's 4th highest rate of return. Hundreds of millions in annual funding go to NASA: Langley & NASA: Stennis, according to this NASA chart. Why wouldn't Trent Lott's recent resignation as Senate Majority Leader have an impact on Stennis, just like the end of the Cold War impacted so many (now closed) military bases?

It's worth keeping in mind that we have a record high $6.4 trillion dollar national debt now:

http://www.publicdebt.treas.gov/opd/opdpenny.htm

And perhaps unlike ever before, NASA's under the microscope and getting scrutinized by the media. In '86, the Cold War was still underway... whereas now, the best way to get votes is to make CREDIBLE promises to lower voters' taxes...