Farm bill conferees have postponed a public meeting on the new measure to reconcile outstanding issues on crop subsidies.

Among other things, members have been discussing ways to prevent very rich farmers from collecting federal dollars. The House version of the bill (HR 2419) contained a provision that would prevent farmers who make more than $1 million a year from getting farm subsidies; those earning $500,000 to $1 million would lose subsidies if less than 67 percent of their income comes from farming.

The Senate version would bar payments to farmers with incomes above $750,000 a year, no matter how much they make from farming. Currently, the cap is set at $2.5 million annual income.

The Bush administration has long sought an even stricter limit of $200,000. Agriculture Department officials reminded the conferees of their wishes at a closed-door meeting Tuesday afternoon.

Also still on the table were limits on the amount of subsidies farmers can collect from the government every year, along with provisions to prevent farmers from collecting some subsidies when crop prices are high.

USDA officials were mum on the state of negotiations when they left one meeting at mid-afternoon. Asked if they had a farm bill President Bush could sign, Agriculture Department Secretary Ed Schafer just shrugged.

The White House had threatened to veto both the original House bill, which was passed by 231-191 on July 27, 2007, and the Senate version, passed by 79-14 on Dec. 14.

Earlier Tuesday, the White House reiterated Bush’s oft-repeated concerns about the legislation but did not lodge a specific veto threat against the emerging deal.

“The president has long said he wants to sign a good farm bill that includes reform and makes wise use of the people’s money,” said deputy W hite House press spokesman Scott Stanzel. “He’s also said that he’d veto a bill that didn’t meet these objectives. That remains the case. The members are still meeting about these issues, but he is concerned about the direction they are taking with their agreement.”

Stanzel did not indicate what portions of the emerging final bill were objectionable to President Bush.

Conferees say they are on the verge of final action after lead negotiators reached a tentative agreement April 25 on the key elements of a bill that would allow about $10 billion in extra spending and tax breaks above the bill’s $560 billion, 10-year baseline.

Senate Agriculture Chairman Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, sounded optimistic at 2:30 p.m., after meeting with USDA officials, saying that they should have a bill done by the end of the week.

Though public meetings on the farm bill have been postponed for the day, top conferees plan to meet throughout the afternoon to discuss the measure.

The current, temporary extension (S 2903) of the 2002 farm law (PL 107-171) expires May 2, and Bush last week urged conferees to scrap their efforts to overhaul farm policy and just send him a year-long extesnion of the 2002 law.

First posted April 29, 2008 2:32 p.m.