House Appropriations Chairman Hal Rogers (R-Ky.) late last night released details of a House-Senate conference report that funds several agencies through fiscal 2012 and averts a government shutdown for at least another month.

"The legislation introduced today represents a bipartisan compromise that will prevent a potential government shutdown, support important programs and services that the American people rely on, and make hard but necessary cuts to help rein in the nation's deficit," Rogers said in a statement.

He continued: "Within this bill, we also include many critically important policy items that will reduce harmful regulations on employers, create a better environment for economic growth and job creation, and halt unnecessary government interference into the daily lives of Americans."

The "minibus" bill covers funding in fiscal 2012 for Agriculture, Commerce/Justice/Science (CJS), and Transportation/Housing and Urban Development. The package also contains a continuing resolution (CR) to keep all government agencies funded until Dec. 16 -- or until Congress completes the remaining nine fiscal 2012 appropriations bills.

The last CR, adopted several weeks ago, was due to expire Friday. The Appropriations Committee described the CR as a "clean" extension that includes no new funding provisions. Both chambers of Congress are expected to clear the minibus and CR by the end of this week.

Some highlights of the deal:

• Agriculture. The Agriculture agencies and programs in this bill will receive a total of $136.6 billion in both discretionary and mandatory funding, a reduction of $4.6 billion from President Obama's request. The conference agreement provides more than $2.5 billion for agricultural research programs, a reduction of $53 million from the fiscal 2011 level. The conference agreement provides $844 million for Natural Resource Conservation Service programs -- a reduction of $45 million below the fiscal 2011 level. This funding includes $828 million for conservation operations to help farmers, ranchers and private forest landowners to conserve their land.

• National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. The bill provides $4.9 billion for NOAA, which is $306 million (7 percent) above fiscal 2011 and $592 million (a cut of 11 percent) below the president's request. Within this total, National Weather Service operations are funded at $903 million -- $24 million above the current year -- and a total of $924 million is included for the Joint Polar Satellite System weather satellite program. The conference agreement includes no funding to establish a new NOAA Climate Service. The administration was seeking $322 million to establish this new entity within NOAA.

• Transportation and Infrastructure. The conference agreement provides $500 million for National Infrastructure Investments (commonly referred to as the TIGER program), and includes language prioritizing rail, highway and transit projects that improve or expand existing systems. Almost $40 billion is provided for the federal highway program. In addition, the agreement provides $1.66 billion for the Federal Highway Administration's Emergency Relief program, which assists states in rebuilding federal highways that were damaged by major natural disasters. The Federal Railroad Administration is funded at $1.6 billion, which is $6.6 billion below the president's request and $326 million above last year's level. Of this amount, $1.4 billion is targeted to Amtrak, primarily for capital improvements to the nation's rail lines. The agreement also demands policy reforms for Amtrak -- including overtime limits on Amtrak employees and reinstatement of a provision that prohibits federal funding for routes where Amtrak offers a discount of 50 percent or more off normal, peak fares. In addition, the agreement does not include funding for High Speed Rail or Intercity Passenger Rail Service. The conference agreement contains a total of $2.1 billion for the Federal Transit Administration, which is $1.6 billion below the president's request and an increase of $515 million over last year.

For more details and reaction, please see tomorrow's E&E Daily.