Gov. Chet Culver said today that he plans to cut state spending by $580 million and announced his plans to take $200 million out of the state’s rainy-day fund to help balance the fiscal 2010 budget.

“We’ve cut $580 million, and it represents the largest cut in decades, if not ever,” Culver said this morning at the state Capitol. “Our nation is in the midst of an economic recession.”

Culver proposed a 6.5 percent budget cut for most of the state’s departments, which he says will generate $400 million in savings. In fact, Culver said, 207 of the 253 line items in his budget are getting cut by 6.5 percent.

“This is not a game,” he said. “We are doing what we have to do, by law, to balance the budget, and we are not anticipating coming back. We are doing the responsible thing and to suggest that 6.5 percent, which represents perhaps the largest cut in the history, is not enough is just wrong.”

However, some areas of government will be spared, Culver said, such as the departments of public safety and corrections; teacher quality and early education programs; and Medicaid, Hawk-I and other state-funded health-care programs. Also, Culver said compensation for Iowa crime victims and funding for workforce development offices will not experience the cuts other state departments will.

Yet Culver said just because some departments are given more protection from budget cuts, it doesn’t mean they get to spend freely or that they will be giving raises to staff.

“Any public official who does not expect and does not prepare for significant budget cuts is ignoring the economic reality,” he said. “Anyone who thinks we can carry on with business as usual is mistaken. We must do more with less.”

Culver said the state government has already cut $180 million during the past two months, and claims the “cuts are the right thing to do.”

Additionally, the governor said he plans to transfer $200 million from the state’s reserve, or rainy-day fund, into the general fund for the 2010 budget, claiming it has figuratively rained on the state’s budget.

“This is from our rainy-day fund, and it has rained,” he said.

Culver said he does not plan to raise taxes and strongly discouraged increasing the state’s gas tax.