The House has passed an extension of current farm law, hoping to give Congress more time to finish a multibillion dollar farm bill that is stalled by a dispute over tax breaks.

Negotiations on the roughly $280 billion, five-year bill are in disarray with lawmakers from the House and Senate squabbling over how to pay for it. The White House says both the House and Senate versions are too expensive and has threatened a veto of either one if it reaches the president's desk.

House members object to several tax breaks in the Senate bill, including provisions to help owners of race horses, landowners who find endangered species on their property and those involved in litigation over the Exxon Valdez oil spill.