A proposal to help the working uninsured could be a fatality of a weakening economy.

Gov. Timothy M. Kaine had proposed spending $7.7 million to help small businesses provide health insurance for poor, uninsured workers.

The budget bill passed by the House Appropriations Committee excluded the program, while the Senate Finance Committee’s version included only $2 million for the program.

Kaine’s proposal would have provided state subsidies for businesses that employed between two and 50 people. Workers who had incomes less than or equal to 200 percent of the federal poverty level (about $41,000 for a family of four) would have been eligible for Kaine’s program.

Under the initiative, the state would pay for up to one-third of employees’ health insurance premiums, while the company and employee would each pay the remaining third.

Lawmakers have had to cut back on spending initiatives in their budgets this year because of a projected $1.4 billion shortfall.