A massive 2012 spending bill that covers the Transportation and Agriculture departments as well as several science agencies is set to clear the House tomorrow, but whether the vote bodes well for bipartisan accord on long-term government funding without a continuing resolution (CR) remains to be seen.

The "minibus" measure reflects the $1.043 trillion ceiling for 2012 discretionary spending that both parties agreed to as part of August's debt deal while extending current federal funding through Dec. 16 (E&E Daily, Nov. 15).

Yet that deadline now looms large for negotiators who are likely to face the same vote-hemorrhaging pressures that risked a government shutdown in September and April: conservatives who want deeper cuts than GOP leaders endorsed and Democrats who might back the debt-deal ceiling but oppose policy riders -- including hot-button environmental limits -- that Republicans plan to pursue.

Rep. Mike Simpson (R-Idaho), the chief House appropriator for U.S. EPA and the Interior Department, said yesterday that House GOP and Senate Democratic aides are still meeting to hash out the details of a potential funding pact, including overall spending numbers and "which riders survive" in a final bill.

"Remember, they have riders in their bill too," Simpson said of Senate Democrats, who left out EPA policy provisions in the appropriations bill they released last month but included a handful that affect wilderness and offshore drilling.

That measure is not expected to see stand-alone action but remains a ripe candidate for inclusion in a third minibus to follow tomorrow's agriculture-transportation measure and an energy spending bill currently stalled in the Senate (E&E Daily, Oct. 20). "There will be another minibus," Simpson predicted. "The question is whether there will be one or two" more.

The Idahoan added that the Interior-EPA measure could hitch a ride on a defense appropriations bill long considered must-pass. But the introduction of more minibus measures does not guarantee that this week's expected passage of the agriculture-transportation spending plan would be the first of several funding bills to codify the $1.043 trillion ceiling agreed to in August.

One reason for the uncertainty is widespread Democratic resistance to riders affecting EPA, health care reform, and other big-ticket Obama administration priorities.

"I don't have any predictions" for how the Dec. 16 deadline to continue funding the government would play out, Rep. Henry Waxman (D-Calif.) said yesterday, "but I think Republicans would be tying this thing up in knots if they tried to put in riders."

While Republican control of the House is strong enough to approve government funding for the remainder of the fiscal year and handcuff White House environmental and energy policy, the GOP could find itself in need of Democratic votes to offset the loss of conservatives who hope to see deeper federal slashes.

House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) subtly referenced that predicament yesterday, telling reporters that a "substantial number of Democrats" would back the agriculture-transportation spending bill despite "substantial opposition in the other party to it."

Asked whether he would be forced to keep riders out of future minibuses in order to avoid a continuing resolution (CR) for the remainder of fiscal 2012, House Appropriations Chairman Hal Rogers (R-Ky.) demurred yesterday: "Time passes. We'll see."

Transportation rundown

The transportation language in the first minibus smooths over several controversial sections that are sure to rankle clean transportation advocates. Notably, the bill zeroes out all funding for high-speed rail. Both the House and Senate had pitched bills with no rail funding, but Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) engineered a move to restore $100 million in funding to the Senate bill.

In a statement, Durbin said he was "disappointed" that appropriators had chosen to cancel funds for the program but said he thought the projects could continue getting cash through the TIGER (Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery) livability grant program.

"Across the country, high-speed rail is consistent with the TIGER grant program's objective -- to fund nationally significant transportation projects that will improve safety, spur economic development, reduce congestion through multimodal investments and create thousands of good paying jobs," Durbin said. "I will work to see that high-speed rail projects in Illinois are made eligible for funding through this program."

Durbin also said he would look for different avenues to restore high-speed rail funding. It is possible legislators working on a surface transportation reauthorization bill in both chambers will dedicate some gas tax funding to the infrastructure initiative, although that is unlikely given the tight budget constraints on the highway trust fund.

The TIGER program, which would have been cut under the House bill, was restored with $500 million in funds. However, supporters say that will not cover the demand for the livability program -- DOT announced yesterday that a recent round of grant requests totaled $14.1 billion.

Amtrak, meanwhile, will see its appropriation slip to $1.4 billion, down from $1.5 billion in fiscal 2011. The House had proposed even larger cuts of up to 60 percent from the operating budget. Supporters say that service is not expected to be affected by the cuts, but Amtrak officials would still like to see more funding.

A controversial provision in the House bill prohibits Amtrak from discounting tickets by more than 50 percent unless the operating loss from the discount is covered by the state. The House had also proposed cutting state-supported routes, which would have led to the closure of some 26 routes in 15 states, but that language was ultimately reversed. Senate and House Democrats had come out strongly against that language.

It has been a downhill slide for passenger rail supporters since President Obama included $8 billion in the stimulus bill for high-speed intercity rail. The White House had requested $1 billion in fiscal 2012 for high-speed rail grants but slashed that request as part of this summer's debt negotiations.

The conference bill also maintains large House cuts to a sustainable housing program within the Department of Housing and Urban Development, which the Senate had proposed to fund with $90 billion.

NOAA funding

The agreement allots $4.9 billion for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration -- a compromise between the Senate and House numbers but still more than half-a-billion dollars below the White House request.

NOAA fared better than some other agencies that saw steeper cuts -- its bottom line would go up 7 percent, compared to fiscal 2011. But the majority of the new funding for the agency would go toward new climate and weather satellites.

The bill allots $924 million for the Joint Polar Satellite System -- which is more than either the House or Senate had allotted for the program but still trails the administration's request by $147 million.

Agency officials have said they need funding to launch new next-generation satellites or risk reducing the government's ability to monitor and forecast severe weather. The House Appropriations panel said the funding in the conference agreement would "ensure the continuity of critical weather forecast data."

House Republicans succeeded in their effort to block NOAA's attempts to create a new Climate Service for another year. The bill refuses funding for the new Climate Service. The agency proposed creating the new office last year to handle what officials said was an overwhelming increase in requests for data and forecasts to help communities and businesses adapt to climate change.

GOP lawmakers in the House have widely criticized the plan and also included language in the 2011 spending measures to try to keep it from moving forward. The administration requested $322 million to establish the office.

The conference agreement does not include language that would block funding for controversial new fishery management schemes called "catch shares." A bipartisan group of 17 congressmen were pushing the conference committee to support the rider.

The lawmakers wanted to revive and toughen a rider that was included in the fiscal 2011 appropriations bill but had not made it into the House or Senate measure this year (E&E Daily, March 4). The conference committee did not take up the issue.

The Obama administration has championed catch shares or "limited access privilege programs," which set fishing quotas and give fishermen control of a portion of an overall catch.

The catch-share programs are controversial because they turn traditional fisheries management upside down. Instead of limiting the fishing season or the number of days that boats are allowed at sea, regulators impose an overall catch limit and divide the total share among buyers. Fishermen can then control when they go out to fulfill their portion of the catch limit.

Inside the agriculture titles

Programs that are funding projects to commercialize cellulosic ethanol, reduce nutrient runoff on farms, restore watersheds and improve energy efficiency for rural landowners face a cut of about $1.25 billion under the final minibus, relative to their authorization under the farm bill. Conservation groups quickly opposed the bill.

"Our leaders in Congress have repeatedly shown an appetite for slicing programs that benefit our soil, water, air and wildlife populations," said Aviva Glaser, agriculture policy coordinator at the National Wildlife Federation. "How much more will be cut before they realize they are creating a legacy of dirty streams and rivers, eroding soils and dwindling wildlife populations?"

The final bill would cut about a third of enrollment in one of the U.S. Agriculture Department's largest conservation programs, the Conservation Stewardship Program, which awards funding for environmental improvements farmers make on their land. The $75.5 million cut to CSP is greater than what the Senate approved in its fiscal 2012 agriculture appropriations bill but much less than the $210 million cut the House voted for in its version.

The committee also chose to zero out a relatively small program that sportsmen have advocated heavily for in the past few weeks. The $17 million "Open Fields" program helps farmers and ranchers open up their lands to public hunting.

Overall, the conference committee reconciled a $2.6 billion difference between the House and Senate versions of the agriculture appropriations bill.

One of USDA's most popular energy programs, the Rural Energy for America Program, would receive some $24.5 million, a 64 percent reduction from its authorization in the federal farm bill. This year, a quarter of the funding from the program has gone toward installing solar panels, and a portion also now helps install blender pumps at rural gas stations. The allocation is greater than the House bill's $2.3 million allocation but would still set back funding by about four years.

"Clean energy programs did not cause the deficit but are being penalized far out of proportion," Andy Olsen, senior policy advocate for the Environmental Law and Policy Center, said in response.

A key USDA biofuels program would also be capped at just $17 million, down from a current cap of $112 million. The Biomass Crop Assistance Program is the only farm bill program to give support to farmers for planting feedstock crops for biofuels.

The agriculture portion of the minibus also includes a cap on direct payments to farms with an income greater than $1 million, though it is unclear how long that would last, as agriculture leaders have said they are working on a farm bill deal that would change farm subsidies. That recommendation is expected to be released any day to the Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction.

The bill also would end a ban on domestic horse slaughter, a move that has been pushed for by Sen. Max Baucus (D-Mont.). The longstanding ban has shipped "much-needed jobs to Canada and Mexico," Baucus said in a statement yesterday.

And the bill would provide $205 million to the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, $103 million below what Obama requested for the commission. The commission has argued that it needs more funding to carry out the mandates of last year's Dodd-Frank Act on financial regulatory reform, and set limits on excessive speculation in energy markets, along with regulating the derivatives market.

Reporters Amanda Peterka, Jason Plautz and Allison Winter contributed.