Key lawmakers agree on nutrition aid boost

By Charles Abbott

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Congressional negotiators agreed on a $10 billion increase for nutrition programs including food stamps under the new U.S. farm law, up $500 million from the earlier target, the heads of the Senate and House Agriculture Committees said Thursday.

Senate Agriculture chairman Tom Harkin, a Democrat from Iowa, disclosed the $10 billion figure during a brief Senate debate over a bill to keep current agricultural programs running until May 2 while House and Senate negotiators finish work on the $600 billion farm law.

His House counterpart, Minnesota Democrat Collin Peterson, confirmed the figure to reporters in the Capitol.

Senators passed the one-week extension of the current law on a voice vote. The House concurred in a voice vote at midday, sending the bill to the White House.

The Bush administration was expected to accept the extension. The farm bill is six months past due.

"We are very close to getting this agreement done," said Harkin, adding that negotiators may wrap up work by the middle of next week.

Negotiators deadlocked for weeks over how to pay for a $10 billion spending increase for the farm law, and over Senate insistence on including a tax package in the bill.

The package of tax cuts began as $7.5 billion and has been whittled to $1.4 billion to $1.6 billion, Harkin said in a teleconference with Iowa reporters.