WASHINGTON — After a month of partisan wrangling, senators resumed discussions Friday on a new farm bill, though even an agreement on how to proceed failed to yield any action.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., said senators will begin voting Tuesday on amendments to the five-year bill covering farm and nutrition programs, with the plan to complete action before the holiday break.

What is the holdup?

The bill has been stalled since early November over a dispute between Republicans and Democrats over what types of amendments could be offered to the bill. Reid wanted to limit amendments to those directly related to the programs covered by the legislation. He said some senators wanted to offer amendments concerning immigration, the Exxon-Valdez oil spill, the estate tax and other topics.

Republicans rebelled, arguing that previous farm bills had been wide open to all types of amendments.

What is the agreement?

Under pressure from farm groups and others to get the bill moving, senators agreed late Thursday that each party could offer up to 20 amendments.

It wasn't clear what the amendments would be, and senators on Friday made only general comments about the bill.

One amendment, which had been offered before the stalemate, proposed to set a hard limit of $250,000 that a farmer could receive in subsidies. Though some types of subsidies are currently limited, there is no cap on the amount farmers can receive when they use a government loan program to help market their crops.

The payment limitation amendment, supported by a coalition of taxpayer watchdog groups, including Citizens Against Government Waste, is expected to be offered again before a final vote is taken.

And though Sen. Tom Coburn is typically the Senate's voice against government waste, he said in an interview Friday that he'll likely oppose the payment limitation amendment.

He said the amendment would hit the biggest, most efficient farmers.