I forsee that the ISS program will stay strong. That within a few short years the crew will be expanded. Nodes will continue to be added, and the station will continue to be built up and used throughout at least the next 30 years (by that time the technology will have become absolete and a new station program would have already been started... and completed enough to start sending up a new one)
I read today that they have begun a program to build a different kind of shuttle to carry four people to and from the station. This is to be completed in 2008.
At this rate, I think we all would be very lucky to witness a human step foot on Mars in our lifetime. The only thing that would provoke the government to spend that kind of money would be have some competition by the Chinese (who will have a presence in space very soon, it's not only USA and Russia anymore)
Now, it is a possibility that we will go back to the moon. But with all the safety percautions of today... it would take approx 20 years from when the program began to the first lunar landing.
So if they started planning now... all of us would be of the right age, so maybe one of us will be chosen to take the trip!
