I don't think anyone receiving gov't funding would consider it stable. Every year, people have to justify their funding at the risk of having the funding removed. I have quasi-personal experience with the withdrawing of funding when Congress killed the Superconducting Super Collider. They killed it the same year that I was in high school and was going to spend time as an intern as several of my older classmates had done.

I know we're speaking the same base. Science funding is woefully short for pure scientific research endeavors. The US gave up on the race for discovery a long long time ago before I was born. The "why?" must always be backed up with a solid money making something. "Why?" can no longer be "because we don't know what we might find out" for a response that will get funded.