PATAKI PLEDGES PUSH FOR FUNDING.(MAIN)

Byline: ELIZABETH BENJAMIN and JAMES M. ODATO Capitol bureau

Albany The foundation of the multibillion-dollar health plan hastily enacted this week by state legislators was crumbling Thursday, prompting Gov. George Pataki and a powerful union leader to vow new lobbying efforts to win a needed $1.8 billion that the Bush administration says it won't pay.

Aides to Pataki insisted the plan, which would hike health care worker salaries and fund some programs, would not collapse even if the federal dollars don't come through. But they did not explain where the funds would come from. Pataki has consistently vowed to continue to cut state taxes.

Pataki spokesman Michael McKeon would not say whether the state has been told directly by the Bush administration that the adjustments in Medicaid needed to fund the health care plan are out of the question.

``We know we need to make the case, that has always been obvious,'' he …