WASHINGTON -- Say what you will about the growth in government spending, but Washington and other states would be in even worse straits if not for the federal financial spigot.

That was one focus of Gov. Christine Gregoire's visit to Washington, D.C., Wednesday. Gregoire was one of 11 governors (eight Democrats and three Republicans) who met with President Obama, Vice President Joe Biden and cabinet members to discuss energy and economic policies. At the meeting, held at the White House State Dining Room, Obama announced plans to create a "carbon capture and storage task force" to promote clean coal technologies. The proposal is one part of the administration's goal toward energy independence.

Afterward, Gregoire met separately with Sheila Bair, head of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. Gregoire pressed the FDIC to help ease reserve requirements on community banks to allow them to more easily lend out to small businesses some of the $30 billion that the federal government has earmarked from leftover Wall Street bailout money.

(Sen. Patty Murray has a bill that would hep community banks get toxic assets off their books, thus freeing up reserve capital for making loans.)

"We could have more jobs out there if we had more financing," Gregoire said during an interview with me and Les Blumenthal of McClatchy Newspapers.

Gregoire also said Washington hopes to get about $1 billion from the federal coffers, money that would substantially offset the state's $2.6 billion deficit. Washington is definitely counting on receiving $435 million for Medicaid, the state-federal health plan for the poor. The state may also get about that much from the handouts set aside for states out of the $787 billion American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.

Finally, the state is seeking a waiver from the federal government that could qualify it for about $100 million for Washington's Basic Health Plan. Basic Health, which sells deeply-subsidized health coverage for people who earn too much for Medicaid, is funded entirely with state revenue. The plan now has more people waiting to get in than are on it -- 65,000 vs. 85,000.

Gregoire, who reluctantly raised the specter of shutting down Basic Health altogether because of the budget shortfall, said that landing the grant would enable more residents to get off the waitlist and into the health plan.