Dec. 2 (Bloomberg) -- U.S. governors will ask that any federal stimulus plan for the states include as much as $100 billion in aid to help cover the swelling costs of social services, Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich said.

Forty-eight governors met with President-elect Barack Obama today to press their case for a federal package to help them weather the U.S. recession that began in December 2007.

The state executives want an assistance plan to create jobs through infrastructure projects, such as highways, and to aid with programs such as unemployment benefits, food stamps and health care for the poor, said Pennsylvania Governor Ed Rendell, chairman of the National Governors Association. Rendell said more than $130 billion in infrastructure projects are waiting to go ahead if funding is secured.

“We’re not asking for the federal government to bail us out,” Blagojevich said. “We will do our part.”

The $100 billion would be in addition to infrastructure projects, Blagojevich said today in an interview after the 1- hour, 45-minute meeting in Philadelphia. He said the total amount of any assistance from Washington and when it might come are unclear.

Rendell said the meeting was “productive” and that Obama was receptive to the states’ needs; he said no price tag or timeframe for a stimulus package has emerged.

‘Bottom-Up’ Plan

“As people lose their jobs, they’re going to look to us for help,” Rendell told reporters. “We didn’t just come here begging for help.”

Obama said he wants any rescue legislation to provide a “bottom-up” stimulus that begins at the state level, and he would like governors to help draft the measure.

“If we’re listening to our governors, we’ll not only be doing what’s right for our states, we’ll be doing what’s right for our country,” Obama told the governors, according to remarks released by his office. “Make no mistake: These are difficult times.”

More than half of the states are suffering from declining revenue in the fiscal year that began five months ago. California accounts for nearly half of the $24 billion in budget deficits faced by a total of 31 states this year, according to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities.

Rendell said 41 states could face a total of $200 billion in shortfalls in fiscal 2009 and 2010.

Spending Drop

The U.S. is entering a period where spending is dropping because of flagging consumer confidence and the prospect of new job losses, New York Governor David Paterson said.

New York faces a $1.5 billion revenue shortfall in its current $119.7 billion spending plan and $12.5 billion in the next.

“It’s very hard for New York to get ahead of the curve, because 20 percent of our resources are derived from Wall Street,” Paterson told reporters. “New York is really the epicenter of the nation’s fiscal crisis.”

Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, who declared a fiscal emergency yesterday in California, said the state won’t accept federal money until it balances out its books.

The governor has proposed $4.7 billion in increased taxes and fees and $4.5 billion in spending cuts to close a shortfall of $11 billion. He said he is hopeful lawmakers will approve his plan, and he won’t accept federal aid until the state balances its budget.

“I’m an optimist,” he said. “We cannot ask the federal government for help until we get our act together in California.”

Dissenting View

Mark Sanford, a Republican from South Carolina, was the only governor among those at a news conference after the meeting who criticized the stimulus plan. He said helping businesses would be more effective than a new round of government spending.

Alaska Governor Sarah Palin, a Republican who ran as the party’s vice-presidential nominee in November, said the meeting participants avoided partisan politics and that governors “know best” how to fix state economies.

“The campaign is over and I appreciate the meeting we had. I look forward to moving forward on a bipartisan basis,” she said.

To contact the reporter on this story: Terrence Dopp in Trenton, New Jersey, at tdopp@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: December 2, 2008 16:57 EST