California leaders make an ill-timed lobbying trip to Capitol Hill

They flew to Washington searching for a path out of the budget storm that has battered California. But Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and the state’s four legislative leaders found nothing more definite than a promise for more discussion.

It was a case of bad timing. They arrived Wednesday to find Capitol Hill buzzing with the election of a populist Republican to fill Democrat Edward Kennedy’s Massachusetts Senate seat, and confronting the consequences for the national healthcare plan, the Democrats’ hold on Congress and Barack Obama’s presidency. The timing added to the difficulty of an already daunting task: persuading the federal government, with its own budget stretched tight, to find an additional $7 billion to help California close a $20-billion deficit.

“There were many in the congressional delegation that said, ‘This is going to be very difficult,’ ” Schwarzenegger told reporters before flying home on his jet Thursday. “Well, hello! What isn’t? This is what we do. . . .I know it’s going to be a big challenge.”

As the governor and his entourage marched through the U.S. Capitol during two days of meetings, many of the state’s congressional leaders pledged to work with them and to assist if they could. But they made no commitments and seemed to see more obstacles than solutions. Some were still peeved at what they saw as a heavy-handed approach by the governor earlier this month, when Schwarzenegger said California had been shortchanged by Washington.

“It’s sort of hard to take seriously somebody who comes to us with hat in hand and tries to lay the blame at our feet for the budget problems California is experiencing,” said Rep. Linda T. Sanchez (D- Lakewood). She referred to a meeting between the state officials and California’s House delegation scheduled for Thursday afternoon as “mostly a photo-op.”

Only about half of the 53-member delegation attended; a number who showed up left to catch planes back to California because the session started late. For Schwarzenegger, the reception was starkly different from when he first visited the U.S. Capitol as governor-elect in 2003. Then, tourists stopped him for autographs, and he was said to have been given more time at the House Republicans’ weekly meeting than any governor in recent memory.

Although this week he drew reporters and camera crews, Schwarzenegger was overshadowed by the arrival of a new celebrity politician -- Sen.-elect Scott Brown of Massachusetts.

Schwarzenegger’s appeal for funds is based on the idea that California is owed the money he is seeking. He said federal formulas for healthcare programs are more generous to other states; California pays federal expenses for undocumented immigrants; and federal law prevents the state from cutting its own programs.

The Democrats -- Assembly Speaker Karen Bass (D- Los Angeles) and Senate leader Darrell Steinberg (D- Sacramento) -- focused more on the severe service cuts California has already made and the need to avoid more.

The governor had been in a spat with federal lawmakers over his demands for more money and statements that they had not advocated well for the state. But in Washington, Schwarzenegger softened his approach, stressing the need to work together.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi left their meeting, saying she was glad the governor had now acknowledged “how helpful the federal government has been the last year, $85 billion going into California,” through the federal stimulus program.

As to additional funding: “We went over some possibilities,” Pelosi said.

michael.rothfeld@latimes.com

richard.simon@latimes.com