OLYMPIA -- Senate Republicans want Gov. Chris Gregoire to call the Legislature's leadership and budget heads together before any special session and get an agreement on what should be cut.

In a letter today to Gregoire, Senate Minority Leader Mike Hewitt and GOP Senate Budget Committee Leader Joe Zarelli, said a pre-session meeting that would "develop a general framework for possible cost savings before the full Legislature is brought back to Olympia" would be extremely valuable.

Such an agreement could result in changes that would help reduce the budgets in the next two biennia, which also are projected to be in the red, and would increase the likelihood of a "short and efficient session."

Gregoire's office said she's travelling today and hasn't had a chance yet to see it. But the governor has repeatedly said she wouldn't call the Lege back unless she could get an agreement that they'd get in, get business done and get out in a day or two. So Hewitt and Zarelli's letter seems in line with that.

The Republican leaders couldn't resist a little "we told ya so" in their letter. The state's budget problem is a result of assuming the federal government would provide an extra $480 million in higher Medicaid money, and that money is now in doubt as Congress struggles to pass anything that could add to the deficit.

"At the time the budget was written, members of our caucus warned against depending upone one-time moneys and assumed federal payouts to balance the budget. Unfortunately, it appears that our worst fears may be played out over the next few months and our state budget may be plunged into an instant deficit," they wrote.

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