NJ Gov. Corzine does not rule out more budget cuts

NEW YORK (Reuters) - New Jersey Gov. Jon Corzine on Wednesday said he is not ruling out additional budget cuts for the state if the U.S. economy, which is already in a recession, slows more.

The Democratic governor last month unveiled a $33 billion budget for the next fiscal year that eliminated at least 3,000 jobs, eliminated three departments and cut spending by $500 million from this year's level.

The budget "in no way precludes the possibility that the depth of the recession and the slowdown in our revenues will require us to make additional cuts, but we tried to get in front of that by projecting ahead a half a billion dollars of cuts," Corzine told Reuters in an exclusive interview.

(Reporting by Anastasija Johnson)