MONTPELIER, Vt. (AP) – A $1 billion extension of milk income payments for dairy farmers was included in a budget bill that passed the U.S. Senate on Thursday, although the program’s ultimate future in the face of opposition in the House is uncertain.

Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., worked to extend the Milk Income Loss Contract, or MILC, and then fended off efforts to delete it through amendments when the bill was up for final debate.

As it turned out, senators decided not to debate most of the amendments that would have cut specific provisions of the bill, including the dairy section.

The MILC program pays farmers when milk prices are low and its benefits are especially popular in states with smaller dairy herds, including Vermont.

The budget bill, which would make the first cuts in such health care programs as Medicaid and Medicare since 1997, also left the food stamp program untouched. There had been an effort to reduce spending on food stamps, and Leahy was involved in the effort to derail that plan, also.

The House also has been working on a budget bill and the dairy program in particular was not included in it.

Leahy’s staff said the provision would be the subject of negotiations between the House and Senate.