President Bush and Agriculture Department Secretary Ed Schafer were discussing the farm bill Wednesday, as lawmakers sought to nail down a final deal.

“The purpose of this is to get the president information he’s requested about USDA’s programs and about the more than $60 billion in federal support for domestic food aid assistance, which includes food stamps, the school lunch program and WIC, also known as the Women, Infants, Children program,” White House spokeswoman Dana Perino said.

Bush has numerous problems with the deal conferees have been hashing out for the last month on the bill. He has long sought stricter limits on farm subsidies, and he has spoken against a proposed new $3.8 billion farm disaster program and new perks for the sugar industry in the bill. Most recently, he has reiterated his objection to the $10 billion in extra spending the bill would allow over the measure’s $560 billion, 10-year baseline.

So far, conferees appear determined to plow ahead. While they have been negotiating behind closed doors on tweaks designed to address some administration objections, they show no signs of backing away from the basic framework of their emerging bill.

The conferees were expected Wednesday to get a final budget “score” for their plan from the Congressional Budget Office, and have said they would later announce details of the final conference report.

Nevertheless, lawmakers aren’t expecting the president to sign their measure. Members of both parties say they are preparing instead to drum up veto-proof two-thirds majorities in both chambers.