Farm bill negotiators will meet again next week after Friday’s talks broke off without much progress on the remaining contentious issues.

Talks among staff members are expected to continue through the weekend, and another official conference committee meeting is tentatively set for April 22.

The primary sticking point remains a package of new tax credits proposed by Senate conferees. A Democratic aide said the senators considered offering to scale back their plan for $2.5 billion in credits, but decided to stick to their target instead, leaving the talks at an impasse.

The overall financing package for the five-year farm bill, with its mix of tax breaks and offsets, has caused House-Senate negotiations to drag on for months. House conferees have balked at going more than $10 billion beyond the bill’s budget baseline, which is $560 billion over 10 years.

Sen. Tom Harkin , D-Iowa, said if negotiators cannot make headway over the weekend, he might consider calling for roll-call votes in the conference committee on elements of the financing package.

President Bush meanwhile signed a one-week extension of the existing 2002 farm law, which would have expired at midnight. But both the administration and leading Senate Republicans have made clear they will not agree to any additional short-term extensions.

First posted April 18, 2008 1:24 p.m.