Ice-T is cooling folks off about the chatter over his lighter “Law & Order: SVU” screentime … telling us straight up, it’s not drama — it’s the budget.

TMZ caught up with Ice as he and wife Coco — who celebrated daughter Chanel’s 10th birthday at New Jersey’s American Dream Mall on Saturday — and he told us SVU bosses basically had to pick who got the bigger budget … his Sgt. Odafin “Fin” Tutuola, or Kelli Giddish, AKA Detective Amanda Rollins.

While we might feel a little offended on his behalf that they didn’t choose him, Ice says it’s all good … the cutback means more family time, more side projects — and he even dropped some inspo: “Give me free time, I find free dime.”