Madison - The Legislature's budget committee approved $123.3 million in budget cuts and other belt-tightening measures Wednesday, with the biggest chunk being taken from the University of Wisconsin System.

The committee voted 12-4 on partisan lines, with all Republicans voting in favor of the cuts and all Democrats voting against.

Gov. Scott Walker's administration this year is making the spending cuts and some raids on pots of state money to help balance the state budget, which still has an additional projected deficit of $143 million through June 2013 even after this latest round of spending reductions.

The latest cuts include $46 million for the UW System this year, with $6.2 million of that coming from UW-Milwaukee. The Legislature's nonpartisan budget office says state universities will manage the cuts by using excess tuition money, not filling vacant positions and putting off starting some new initiatives or buying new equipment such as computers.

Rep. Robin Vos (R-Rochester), co-chairman of the Joint Finance Committee, said he believes the UW System will be able to weather the cuts.