The Assembly Budget Committee on Tuesday approved about half of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's midyear budget-saving ideas - supporting about $1 billion in borrowing and fund shifts but stopping short of approving program cuts.

The full Assembly is set to take up the first batch of proposed midyear solutions Thursday or Friday, but Budget Committee Chairman Darrell Steinberg, D-Sacramento, said budget cuts would not likely come soon.

"We got started on erasing a very big budget deficit, with the emphasis on started," Steinberg said after lawmakers easily approved the measures during a hearing that lasted less than an hour.

Schwarzenegger in November asked the Legislature to make a series of midyear changes aimed at saving $1.9 billion to help close the state's budget gap.

Assembly Budget Committee members accepted only some of those changes, including a $475 million loan to the state from local governments.

Democrats did not accept Schwarzenegger's proposed cuts - such as a 10 percent reduction in the rate that the state pays to Medi-Cal providers. That proposed cut already was in question because a U.S. District Court judge issued a preliminary injunction in December blocking a previously approved 5 percent rate cut from taking effect. Steinberg said the Assembly may consider the governor's proposals later.

Steinberg said he plans to hold hearings in March and April to discuss further solutions and to see how the state can save money by improving government efficiency - a strategy that has been touted by the GOP governor since he took office.

Schwarzenegger's finance spokesman, H.D. Palmer, said Tuesday's action "marks forward progress," but he said the governor will continue to press lawmakers to make more cuts in the near-term to help wipe out the state's budget gap.