STEVE INSKEEP, host:
California's Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger travels to Washington this morning, looking for cash. The governor's plan to erase California's $20 billion budget deficit relies on billions of federal dollars. And if he doesn't get the money, the governor plans to eliminate entire Social Services programs. John Myers of member station KQED has more.
JOHN MYERS: Arnold Schwarzenegger has long called himself the Collectinator -the guy who would settle a longstanding beef that California sends more money to D.C. than it gets back in federal help.
Just days after being elected in 2003, Schwarzenegger met with then-President Bush in Southern California and made it sound as though things were about to change.
Governor ARNOLD SCHWARZENEGGER (Republican, California): We are paying - for each dollar that we pay, we only get $.77 back. So there's room to play with. I mean, so I'm absolutely convinced that we can get help and that we will get help.
MYERS: But even as recently as two weeks ago, he was still asking for the money.
Gov. SCHWARZENEGGER: I promised the people of California that I will be fighting for California and I will go and do everything that I can to get the federal money that we deserve.
MYERS: That was the governor at the unveiling of his new state budget. In that budget, Schwarzenegger has actually penciled in almost $8 billion in federal dollars to balance California's books. That includes money for health care for the poor and welfare assistance, for special education programs, and reimbursement for housing prison inmates who are undocumented immigrants.
Gov. SCHWARZENEGGER: For us to get stuck with the bill of incarceration of undocumented immigrants of $900 million is unfair. We're going to fly to Washington and we're going to fight for that money.
MYERS: Lately, the governor's been fighting mostly with members of his own congressional delegation, jabbing them for not doing more to level the playing field for California. Now, they are jabbing back.
Representative ZOE LOFGREN (Democrat, California): That whole premise that somehow California is being disproportionately treated is just false.
MYERS: Congresswoman Zoe Lofgren, a Democrat from Silicon Valley, says for one thing, Schwarzenegger is using old data. She says a recent review that takes into account federal stimulus money suggests California is getting as much as $1.45 in federal services for every dollar in taxes.
Lofgren says while the state's sluggish economy could still use help, Governor Schwarzenegger is spending too much time blaming the feds.
Rep. LOFGREN: To pretend that he's not the governor and somehow he doesn't have a role in the continuing saga of the California budget nightmare is really a disappointment.
MYERS: Others say the governor is asking for the wrong money the wrong way. That's because dozens of states find their budgets in the red this year, and Schwarzenegger would be smart to have allies in the fight for federal help. Jean Ross leads the California Budget Project, which advocates for programs aimed at the working poor.
Ms. JEAN ROSS (Executive Director, California Budget Project): If you want to win the support of Congress, our governor should be going to Washington arm in arm with the 40, 45 other governors who are also facing budget shortfalls this year.
MYERS: Ross says the governor should focus his D.C. lobbying on a second national stimulus package. In the first one, California was awarded $85 billion - more than any state. But Schwarzenegger said last week another stimulus doesn't solve the problem.
Gov. SCHWARZENEGGER: We're not looking for one time revenue. We are not looking for two times revenue. We are looking for fairness.
MYERS: The question, though, is if Arnold Schwarzenegger hasn't gotten what he's wanted from the feds in the past, what makes him think he will get it now? After all, he's in the final year of his term, his job approval ratings are near rock bottom, and the only place more divided by partisan politics than his statehouse may be the nation's capital.
For NPR News, I'm John Myers in Sacramento.
(Soundbite of music)
INSKEEP: It's NPR News.