WASHINGTON - A $5 billion plan to extend payments to rural counties hurt by cutbacks in federal logging was left out of a massive spending bill agreed to by House and Senate negotiators.

Democrats are preparing to send President Bush a $124 billion bill that pays for the war in Iraq but requires that troops begin pulling out if progress is not shown.

The bill, which Bush has vowed to veto, includes $425 million for a one-year extension of the payments to timber counties, as well as $500 million to fight wildfires and $60 million for salmon fishers and tribes in Northern California and Oregon.

But it does not include a Senate-approved plan to spend about $2.8 billion to continue the county payments law through 2011, and direct another $1.9 billion to rural states as part of a program to reimburse state and local governments for federally owned property.

The failure to include the longer term solution drew fire from Republican Sen. Gordon Smith, R-Ore., who said in a statement Tuesday that the “final county payment deal leaves rural Oregon out to dry.”

The Democratic bill “falls far short of a long term solution for rural Oregon,” Smith said. “No sooner will counties get up off the mat then this extension will expire again. ... We need a long term solution - it is just that simple.”

Democrats said a longer term solution was still possible, but said the more expensive plan was removed by House leaders, who face pressure to reduce domestic spending - labeled by some as pork - in the war-spending bill.

“While we're disappointed that the House would not accept the (Senate) legislation, this is far from over,” said Josh Kardon, chief of staff to Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., the chief sponsor of the Senate measure.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., has indicated strong support for the five-year extension of the timber program, formally known as the Secure Rural Schools and Community Self Determination Act. The program, which reimburses 700 rural counties in 39 states hurt by federal logging cutbacks imposed in the 1990s, expired in September. Schools and counties throughout the South and West have scrambled to cut spending to make up for the expected loss of federal funds.

Wyden and other Democrats remain optimistic a version of the longer-term Senate bill can still be approved, Kardon said. Given Bush's veto threat, the real test will come in a spending bill that follows the measure to be approved this week, he and other Democrats said.

“At the end of the day, Congress is going to have to pass a (war-spending) bill, and the president is going to have to sign it. So the real question is to get a county payments bill that President Bush actually signs,” Kardon said.

Rep. Peter DeFazio, D-Ore., said inclusion of the one-year extension was important, even though the bill itself is almost certain to be vetoed.

“This puts us in a very strong position for one-year funding in whatever final form this emergency spending bill takes,” he said.

The agreements also gives lawmakers additional time to resolve difference between the House and Senate and work toward a long-term solution, he said.

The House could vote as soon as Wednesday on the spending bill, with the Senate expected to act after that.

In addition to the timber money, the House-Senate agreement includes $500 million to establish a reserve account dedicated to emergency wildland firefighting, and $60 million to help fishermen in California and Oregon hurt by a sharply curtailed salmon fishing season.

The bill also includes $20 million for dairy farmers in California who suffered losses in the 2006 heat wave, and another $20 million for California citrus farmers hurt by a five-night freeze in January.

It also would provide $12 million to the Forest Service to combat drug trafficking on federal lands.

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On the Net:

The bill is H.R. 1591. Congress: http://thomas.loc.gov