Someone will beat us at our own game. We have no motivation at this point to do anything about outer space. The richest tycoons such as Bill Gates, Warren Buffett and others are not interested investing in private outer space travel.
And yet private space travel is catching on through men like Robert Bigelow and Sir Richard Branson.
NASA is on life support with its 40 year old space bus. If other nations feel the need to fleece their taxpayers for flights that can be done by private industry cheaper and more efficiently, let them. But the government of these US should not follow suit