Bush signs one-week extension of farm law

President Bush on Friday signed a one-week extension of current farm law as the House and Senate continued to argue over how to pay for a multibillion-dollar farm bill.

The measure, passed by the House on Wednesday and the Senate on Thursday, will keep the farm program going until April 25.

Bush has threatened to veto the House and Senate farm bills, which would cost roughly $280 billion over five years to expand agriculture and nutrition programs. He says they are too expensive and would not sufficiently cut subsidy payments to wealthy farmers in a time of robust farm prices.

Deputy Agriculture Secretary Charles Conner had said on Wednesday that Bush would only sign the extension if it appeared negotiators had made significant progress on the bill, and he said the administration had not yet seen that progress.

Negotiations are in disarray as lawmakers from the House and Senate squabble over how to pay for the legislation.