The House this week will likely clear a $30.6 billion fiscal 2012 spending bill for the Energy Department, Army Corps of Engineers and Interior Department water programs.

The chamber will continue debating the measure (H.R. 2354) today and will vote on final passage later this week.

The GOP-authored spending bill -- which provides $24.7 billion for DOE, $4.8 billion for the Army Corps and $934 million for Interior's Bureau of Reclamation -- is expected to pass easily in the Republican-controlled House.

But Democrats have expressed dismay at the steep spending cuts in the bill.

"While I appreciate the chairman's considerable efforts and recognize difficult choices must be made to address the nation's serious financial situation, this bill starkly illustrates the short-sighted nature of the spending caps set by the House budget," Rep. Peter Visclosky (D-Ind.), ranking member of the Energy and Water Development Appropriations Subcommittee, said on the House floor last week.

"The allocation for Energy and Water is simply insufficient to meet the challenges posed by the economic downturn and to guarantee our national security," Visclosky added.

The bill would cut spending for DOE by $850 million from the 2011 level and $5.9 billion from the White House request. Many of the cuts come from the agency's renewable and energy efficiency programs. The measure cuts Army Corps spending by $89 million from 2011 levels but boosts it by $195 million over the president's request. The bill's spending authorization for the Bureau of Reclamation is $161 million below 2011 and $117 million below Obama's request.

"This bill clearly shows that much greater fiscal discipline and a strong national defense and a strong economy can be achieved together," Energy and Water Development Subcommittee Chairman Rodney Frelinghuysen (R-N.J.) said on the House floor last week.

Republicans this year have led a charge against government spending as they look for ways to reduce the deficit. Funding levels in the current fiscal year's spending plan are significantly lower than in previous years and the administration's requests. And Democrats are opposed to many of the GOP priorities, like boosting spending for traditional energy programs at the expense of renewable energy and energy efficiency activities.

Democrats could raise amendments dealing with some of the more controversial areas of the bill, such as the proposed steep cuts to DOE's renewable energy and efficiency programs, the $35 million in new spending for the shuttered Yucca Mountain nuclear waste repository and a provision that would block funding for a new Obama administration policy aimed at expanding federal protections over wetlands and streams.

Other controversial provisions -- like language that would pare down Obama's request for Everglades restoration or a provision that would give industry seats on a DOE panel studying the safety of hydraulic fracturing and shale gas drilling -- could also face partisan bickering on the floor this week.

And a provision that would provide $1 billion in emergency funding to respond to this year's floods in the Mississippi and Missouri river basins at the expense of high-speed rail funds could also raise an amendment debate as it did in the Appropriations Committee markup.

"I support and appreciate the inclusion of emergency funding to respond to the historic floods in the Mississippi and Missouri river basins. Communities devastated by natural disasters deserve our full support," Visclosky said. "I am, however, disappointed that the bill offsets this funding by withdrawing critical investment dollars from economic infrastructure in the United States."