TALLAHASSEE -- With updated revenue numbers that offered no relief from deep budget cuts, a bi-partisan majority of the Florida Senate wants to cut short the regular session in February and come back later in the spring when lawmakers hope to have a rosier revenue forecast that will avoid some of the $2 billion in projected cuts.

Incoming Senate President Don Gaetz and incoming Democratic Leader Chris Smith have circulated a petition to present to the Senate president, and have gathered a majority of Senate signatures for the effort in the face of strong resistance from the House, Gaetz told the Herald/Times.

Gaetz wants to avoid a special session, so he’s calling for a legislative "hiatus" in February that would allow lawmakers to pause their work and come back to finish within the 60-day time limit. Lawmakers started their session early this year in time to handle the once-a-decade redistricting of legislative and congressional maps and are scheduled to adjourn by March 9.

The delay also serves a second purpose: it allows lawmakers to buy time if the Florida Supreme Court rejects all or part of their redistricting maps. Gaetz said legislators could come back within the delayed session, make the fixes quickly and then send any "repairs" back to the court.

"My view and the view of the majority of the Senate is that we ought to measure twice and cut once,’’ Gaetz said. The Niceville Republican said that the forecast from state economists on Thursday, which showed a slower than expected increase in revenues that could result in a $2 billion budget gap, don’t take into account sales tax revenues from late December and January which are "typically a very strong period."

But the push by the Senate to delay the budget has sparked a new battle with the House, whose Republican leadership angered senators when they allowed dozens of top priority Senate bills to die in the final hours of last year’s session.

House Speaker Dean Cannon said Thursday that he saw no reason to delay a budget. State economist said Thursday the state would collect $26 million more than anticipated in the 2012-13 budget but the gap will remain close to $2 billion.

"We have no indication there is going to be any reasonably significant difference in the same estimate we’ve been working off of for months, so I don’t think that indicates any reason to not get to work on the budget and get it done on time,’’ Cannon said. He wants to finish on time, he said, to send "the right sign to the business community and 18 million Floridians."

Republican Leader Carlos Lopez Cantera told the Herald/Times that economists are not scheduled to meet in conference again to update the revenue numbers, he said, "and it’s a little presumptuous to call one. There is no indication the numbers in March would be better than January."

Senate Democratic Leader Nan Rich said Friday she supports a delay to help ensure the state will be able to "use all the revenue we have." If lawmakers complete the budget early and new revenue comes in before the new budget year on July 1, she said, “I have no confidence that the money will go into education and health care issues.”

Rich is among several senators who believe it’s time for lawmakers, who have cut programs, jobs and services from the state budget for the past five years — including $4.65 billion last year — to take a serious look at alternatives.