A million dollars here. A million there.

The Legislature's Appropriations Committee matched Gov. Dave Heineman's scalpel with a putty knife in its first day of talks aimed at balancing the budget.

The nine senators started off with unanimous agreement they would not recommend the governor's budget-cutting proposal, as offered, to the full Legislature.

They then began constructing their own.

The committee will recommend the Legislature not authorize a transfer of cash funds from the state's commodity boards to help balance the budget.

If the Legislature agrees, it would save the boards -- poultry and egg, potato development, winery and grape, wheat, corn, dry bean and grain sorghum -- collectively about $1.2 million.

Representatives of those boards have told senators they understand the budget crisis, but it was wrong to take farmers' money, checked off for a certain use, and put it to a different use.

The Cultural Preservation Endowment Fund, $1 million over the two-year budget, could remain in the budget, despite the governor's wish to transfer it to the general fund.

The committee retained some of the governor's proposed cuts in this first look at agency requests, including $250,000 for the U.S. Senior Open golf tournament, scheduled for 2013 in Omaha.

The committee had a short discussion of furloughs for state employees, agreeing to disagree for the moment.

Sen. John Wightman of Lexington opposed making furloughs mandatory if the choice was between layoffs or time off.

If agencies can become leaner, he said, they should be allowed to do that.

Sen. John Harms of Scottsbluff said the Legislature could find ways to streamline government, but not quickly. Furloughs, if needed, would give the state time to make those decisions.

"It gives us a chance, if we're smart, to get out in front of this down the line," he said.

And it gives employees time to look at their options, he said.

The rest of the Legislature was off Wednesday for Veterans Day, and will come back Thursday. The Appropriations Committee will continue its discussions today and Friday.

Heineman called the special session, which started Nov. 4, to address a $334 million deficit in state revenues.

Reach JoAnne Young at 473-7228 or jyoung@journalstar.com.