Assembly Speaker Karen Bass touted Uncle Sam as a realistic savior Wednesday for California's multibillion-dollar budget shortfall – but critics say the tactic could backfire by raising false hopes.

"I'm still concerned that some folks are looking at this in isolation and not in its national and international context," Bass said of a projected budget gap of $27.8 billion over two years.

Rather than Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's approach of bridging the gap by roughly a 50-50 formula of tax increases and program cuts, Bass said it's realistic to turn to federal officials for a bailout that would avoid cuts.

"I don't want to go there," the Los Angeles Democrat said of cuts to education, health care or other key services. "I want to split the baby in half, too. I want to do 50 percent revenue, and 50 percent support from the federal government."

Schwarzenegger has expressed interest in seeking federal assistance, but not before the state eases its fiscal crisis.

"Basically, what he's said is that we need to get our own house in order before we can expect the federal government to help us," spokesman Aaron McLear said.

Wayne Johnson, a GOP strategist, said that Bass' trumpeting of a bailout could harm budget talks by diverting attention from the need to control state spending.

"Any time that you suggest that there's a big pile of money somewhere else that can come in and solve the problem, you're going to make people less serious about what they need to do," he said.

Bass pushed the notion of a federal bailout Wednesday at a morning meeting of The Bee's Capitol Bureau, about a week after she floated the idea at a news conference. Bass, D-Los Angeles, and other legislative leaders later met with Schwarzenegger for nearly two hours, but no progress on a budget deal was reported.

The Assembly leader said it's not "off the wall" to suggest that California, one of the world's largest economies, should receive a bailout from a federal government willing to spend $150 billion to rescue the AIG insurance firm.

"What I would like is that it would happen right away, (but) what I think is probably a little more realistic is that it happen a couple of months down the line," Bass said.

Bass said that assisting struggling states should be the responsibility of the Bush administration. But President-elect Barack Obama's administration is "going to be much more willing and interested to help states," she predicted.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and other top Democrats also are promoting aid to states as part of a broad stimulus package that could inject more than $300 billion into the ailing economy.

Bass said she would like to see federal assistance come as discretionary grants, but perhaps more likely, federal funds could be pumped into services – such as incarceration of undocumented criminals – that now consume state dollars.

Bass made it clear, however, that she is not saying Democrats won't consider program cuts under any circumstance.

"If the Republicans are willing to put up the votes for revenue, then our caucus is definitely going to have to face that. … I'm not coming into this naively," she said.

Incoming Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg expects some cuts to be inevitable in bridging the budget gap, spokesman Jim Evans said. "We're going to need a combination of taxes, of cuts, and also some federal money," he said. "It's got to be all three."

The California Teachers Association applauded Bass' efforts to avoid Schwarzenegger's proposed $2.5 billion cut this year in school funding.

"At least she's looking at not cutting," spokeswoman Sandra Jackson said. "I think we should look at every (revenue) avenue possible."

Garry South, a Democratic strategist, said that counting on a federal bailout is like believing in the Tooth Fairy. "We're going to have cuts," he said. "It's plain to everybody."

Dan Schnur, director of the Jesse M. Unruh Institute of Politics at the University of Southern California, said that he suspects Bass' comments are meant to push Republicans from their no-new-taxes stand.

"She's saying that until you stop saying no to taxes, I'm going to simply say no to new spending cuts – and when you're ready to negotiate, let me know," Schnur said.

Not only will such a strategy fail, it also could raise false expectations among interest groups that might hamper striking a deal, Republicans said.

"I think it's very counterproductive," said Kevin Spillane, a GOP strategist. "(A bailout) is a liberal, big-government Democrat's fondest dream – it's not going to happen."

Assemblyman Roger Niello, R-Fair Oaks, said he would be wary of a federal bailout.

"Be careful of higher levels of government bearing gifts," he said. "They come with strings attached."

Call Jim Sanders, Bee Capitol Bureau, (916) 326-5538.