What is seti? was it a mistake for congress to cut its funding? why or why not?

SETI stands for Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence.  Basically, it involves scanning space for radio signals from intelligent civilizations off of the Earth.  As far as we know, the project has yet to be successful. Also, even scientists who believe that there is intelligent life beyond the Earth tend to think it's unlikely that humans can detect radio signals from other worlds or that other beings would be broadcasting such.  Whether it was a mistake for Congress to cut funding to the program is a debatable topic.  Those who were in favor of cutting funding pointed out that the program had yet to be a success.  Those who were not in favor of cutting funding argues that it was no an expensive program and that, in time, it might result in helping to make of the greatest and most important scientific discoveries in the history of mankind.