Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour told lawmakers Thursday he wants more power to reduce state spending when times are tough.

Meeting with members of the Joint Legislative Budget Committee, the Republican said he wants the authority to cut the budget by 10 percent when the House and Senate are not in session.

Under current state law, the governor can cut up to 5 percent. For larger cuts, the governor has to call the House and Senate back to the Capitol.

Barbour said the change would give him _ and future governors _ more flexibility for financial management.

However, he's unlikely to get what he wants because legislators jealously guard their power to decide how much money state programs receive. The House and Senate would have to approve the change.

"We do the best we can, and it is trial-and-error," Rep. Steve Holland, D-Plantersville, told reporters after the meeting with Barbour. "If we get in bad shape, he can call us back and we'll deal with it. But spending is the purview of the Legislature, not the governor."

Rep. Cecil Brown, D-Jackson, agreed.

"Why would we want to turn the budget over to one person, no matter who that person is?" Brown said.

During their meeting Thursday, lawmakers reduced their estimate for the state's general fund for the current fiscal year, which began July 1 and ends next June 30. The new estimate is nearly $4.6 billion, down from about $4.9 billion.

With federal stimulus payments, a lawsuit settlement and some other money on top of the general fund, state spending had been close to $6 billion. Continued...