States Warned They May Be on Their Own

The governors spent much of Sunday trying to resolve their own conflicts on the subject of federal aid before pressing their case with President Bush during a White House meeting scheduled for this morning.

"We're trying to reach a consensus on a resolution for fiscal relief and Medicaid reform," California Gov. Gray Davis said shortly after he and most of the nation's governors concluded an intense, closed-door discussion. "It's not quite cooked yet. We are making progress."

Davis, who estimates that California must close a $34-billion budget gap over the next 16 months, described the disagreements as "civil but spirited."

The political discord among the governors -- gathered for the winter meeting of the National Governors Assn. -- simmered to the surface during and after a session on the states' fiscal crisis.

Republican governors are embracing a limited federal response, while some Democratic governors are endorsing proposals from congressional Democrats that would provide states with as much as $75 billion in aid.

Without federal intervention, states must cut spending and raise taxes by an estimated $112 billion over the next 18 months, the association projects.

In the morning session's keynote address, Sen. Larry E. Craig (R-Idaho) chided the states for overspending during the 1990s and warned the governors against overreaching in their requests for federal aid. His comments came moments after Kentucky Gov. Paul E. Patton, a Democrat who chairs the governors association, made a pointed plea for "urgent fiscal relief" from Washington.

"This is not a partisan issue," Patton said.

Craig, however, accused congressional Democrats of exacerbating the plight of the states by delaying action on the 2002-03 federal budget and by opposing the president's plan to stimulate the economy by cutting taxes. And he pointedly advised governors against pressing Congress to support Democratic proposals that would funnel tens of billions of additional aid to states.