Washington —- In a rare scene Thursday, Sen. Saxby Chambliss, the Georgia Republican, exchanged warm words of praise with liberal-leaning Democrats as they unveiled a farm bill that puts Chambliss squarely at odds with President Bush and fellow conservatives.

"When Saxby Chambliss makes a commitment to you, you can put it in the bank," said Sen. Kent Conrad, a Democrat whose North Dakota farmers make him a natural Chambliss ally. Chambliss, equally effusive, said he and Conrad have been "joined at the hip" as they pieced together the massive five-year farm bill, which the White House criticizes as "bloated" with subsidies for rich farmers.

The Georgian, one of the most loyal supporters of the Bush administration, became Capitol Hill's farm bill envoy to the White House. He met in the Oval Office last week with the president and Vice President Dick Cheney to convince them that lawmakers have made enough reforms by cutting off subsidies to farmers whose incomes are $750,000 or higher (with a $500,000 limit for landowners who aren't farmers).

The president, who has insisted on setting the limit at $200,000, "listened closely" but has not budged, Chambliss said Thursday in an interview. He predicted that the legislation he has been working on for three years is headed for a veto.

"All indications point that way," Chambliss said. He said many members of the White House staff "just philosophically are opposed to farm bills, period."

Farm programs have come under sharp criticism for sending subsidies to the wealthy, including CNN founder Ted Turner and former Coke chairman Doug Ivester. An Atlanta Journal-Constitution analysis of federal agriculture data last year found that at least 195 farm operations, including nine in Georgia, got more than $1 million in payments in 2005.

"We have taken every possible step to ensure that millionaire farmers don't get payments in the new bill," Chambliss said of the bill.

Georgia crops, especially cotton and peanuts, would get the same basic protections and subsidies included in the last bill. The bill also includes some new subsidies for a peanut farming conservation program, Chambliss said.

Although estimates were not available for the new bill, payments to Georgia farmers have averaged $365 million a year from 1995 to 2005.

Chambliss said farm state lawmakers would be seeking to win over enough friends for the bill —- which also includes conservation measures and expanded outreach for food stamps —- to produce the two-thirds majority to override a veto.

In that effort, Chambliss expects to face a major opponent from his own party. The presumed Republican presidential nominee, Sen. John McCain of Arizona, has announced he would veto the farm bill if he were in the White House.

The legislation also is taking hits from small-government, anti-tax groups such as the Washington-based Club for Growth. The group gave Chambliss one of the highest rankings on Capitol Hill for fighting "pork" spending last year.

But the group's spokeswoman, Nachama Soloveichik, now says, "I don't know of one conservative group that thinks the farm bill is a good deal."

The president's answer has been to pass a one-year extension of the current farm law. Chambliss, who is up for re-election in November and has five Democrats lined up to be his challenger, wants a new bill that restores peanut handling costs, which have not been funded for the past year, and includes new payments to those who agree to rotate their crops according to conservation standards.

"That stands to be a huge benefit to them," Chambliss said of the growers who produce one of Georgia's biggest crops.