Why would we cut these things?

Among the initiatives that could be cut are $50 million for the National Endowment for the Arts, $14 million for cyber security research by the Homeland Security Department, $1 billion for the National Science Foundation, $400 million for research and prevention of sexually transmitted diseases, $850 million for Amtrak and $400 million forclimate change research. But so far, none of the suggestions come close to being enough to shrink the package on the scale proposed.

Mind-boggling.   Normally, cutting cyber security measures and not preventing STIs would be a bad thing.   Why is this idea even taken seriously?  I've been trying to give the President the benefit of the doubt on the strategy of getting the stimulus passed; he still gets it, if only because he seems to be the only Democrat working to get this thing passed and to drum up public support.  Congressional Democrats--one of whom, Sen. Nelson, is promoting these cuts--are not getting the benefit of the doubt.  The economy is cratering; people are losing jobs by the hundreds of thousands each month; our infrastructure is crumbling; our climate is spinning out of control.  Meanwhile, Democrats in Congress seem to be up to the same tricks they were used to during the Bush years.