I'm a pretty careful guy when it comes to money, and I always appreciate when governments are careful with how they spend my taxes. But it looks like the cost saving is going to be at most $6,300,000 (actually less, if I'm reading it right), which is just change for a nickel when it comes to the federal budget.
My bet is they will justify this by arguing that there are tens of thousands of WWVB 60khz devices out there, plus every personal computer can access internet time servers. But those are just time standards, AFAIK. No propagation or frequency (audio as well as RF, other than 60khz) calibration capability.
The NIST release contains a perversely sweet piece of bureaucratic doublespeak: "The proposed reductions will allow NIST to consolidate and focus on narrower core SI measurement programs . . . " They're cutting their budget across the board, yet implying that the savings will allow them to better "focus" on other existing programs! They're cutting everything, not moving money around.
Hey, times change. Maybe time stations are obsolete.