As long as ALL potential signals from an intelligent origin (not of our own) will be made public by SETI, and the necessary funds are available, this program should be mandatory. I think mankind is entitled to know all the possibilities for our very existence.
SETI@home and Astropulse are funded by grants from the National Science Foundation, NASA, and donations from SETI@home volunteers. AstroPulse is funded in part by the NSF through grant AST-0307956.