ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) - The federal stimulus bill is expected to inject $2 billion or more into Minnesota's ailing budget. It will also reshape the budget debate from the inside.

Lawmakers and administration officials were still grasping for details at a legislative hearing on the stimulus Thursday. Minnesota's deficit officially stands at $4.8 billion, but the real gap is expected to be much higher since the economy has worsened since the last forecast.

The stimulus aid - while welcomed by Democrats who control the Legislature and GOP Gov. Tim Pawlenty's top finance official - adds another note of uncertainty to the financial picture.

Management and Budget Commissioner Tom Hanson said some of Pawlenty's proposed cuts to health and welfare programs - such as eliminating MinnesotaCare health coverage for parents - will have to be dropped to get the aid. He said Pawlenty will have to undo planned cuts that could range from $89 million to $200 million or more, depending on federal requirements.

Hanson said other adjustments are also being considered, but details were still sketchy.

"We're basically back to ground zero on budgets," said Senate Majority Leader Larry Pogemiller, a Minneapolis Democrat.

Pogemiller said the stimulus requirements unravel Pawlenty's budget plan and the governor will have to redo it. The Senate leader said the aid is a "Band-Aid" that doesn't address underlying problems in the state's finances.

Even so, Democrats have yet to release their own deficit fix. They plan to gather ideas from people around the state in a series of hearings that begin next week.

Finance officials are expected to have an even grimmer updated budget forecast on March 3. Pawlenty said earlier this week that the shortfall could balloon to as much as $7 billion.

Hanson acknowledged that the federal help won't solve the state's long-term structural problems, but said that's not the most pressing priority.

"For now, we just need to get people back to work," he said after a hearing of the Legislative Commission on Planning and Fiscal Policy. "We need to help as many people as possible, and that's what the federal money does for us."

Hanson said state officials haven't analyzed the potential jobs that would be created under the stimulus bill. But supporters including U.S. Rep. Jim Oberstar, D-Minn., said the package would bring thousands of jobs to Minnesota.

Oberstar's office distributed figures from an Obama administration analysis showed the bill saving or creating more than 66,000 Minnesota jobs, and results of another analysis by the independent economic research firm Moody's Economy.com putting the figure as high as 91,000 jobs.

(Copyright 2009 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)