CHARLESTON  -- Gov. Joe Manchin is asking the state legislative and judicial branches to cut their budgets 2 percent beyond what he originally proposed earlier in the year, but he isn’t proposing any cuts in the state government work force or programs for the elderly and children.

Manchin unveiled his revised state budget for the coming fiscal year May 26, the same day state lawmakers gathered at the Capitol to finish a legislative session begun in February. The governor’s proposal calls for slashing roughly $200 million from the $4.33 billion budget he proposed earlier this year. At the same time, he suggests backfilling some of those cuts with federal economic recovery money.

The strategy will spare state government deep cuts this year but could leave it holding the bill two years from now when the federal money runs out. Manchin said the state is being frugal with how it spends both its own money and economic stimulus money to avoid painful reductions in services in future years.

“Sooner or later if the economy doesn’t turn around and you use up all your money, then you are going to make to make some difficult choices at that time,” he said. “…You have all 47 states that are using their (economic recovery) money on the front end. I’ve always said that disciplined through this, we are going to come out 2011 or later much stronger, (with) a much, much stronger economy, than most of our surrounding states.”

Among the areas the governor is proposing backfilling with federal dollars are higher education and public education, both of which would face a combined $34 million reduction if not for economic recovery money.

The recovery money was part of an economic stimulus bill passed by Congress earlier this year. It is meant to help states shore up their funds, which have taken a beating as the stock market tumbled and millions of people lost their jobs.

The state started out the year with a small budget surplus, but that surplus became a potential deficit thanks to investment losses and weakening tax collections. Lawmakers typically would have approved a state budget by now, but Manchin and majority Democratic leaders agreed to hold off a decision until after April tax collections.

Lawmakers will take up the budget and reconsider several bills vetoed by the governor in what is expected to be a short extended session. They will then immediately into special session to reconsider perhaps more than a dozen bills that died during the regular session earlier in the year.