In an era of flat and falling appropriations, House Republicans are expected to scrutinize the Obama administration's request to modestly increase the 2012 budget of the U.S. Geological Survey at a Natural Resources subpanel hearing Wednesday.

The administration's fiscal 2012 budget for the agency, which provides much of the Interior Department's scientific expertise, would run to $1.1 billion, a rise of $6.1 million from current levels. The agency has proposed cutting its administrative costs by $23.4 million, repurposing those funds toward several research priorities.

Lawmakers on the Energy and Mineral Resources Subcommittee are likely to focus their attention on newly proposed satellite spending in the USGS budget, along with funding set for several of the agency's climate-related initiatives. USGS's director, Marcia McNutt, will appear to defend her agency's request.

The largest spending increase proposed by USGS would fund its Landsat satellites, used to provide data for land use and climate change research. The agency has requested an additional $48 million for the program that would go toward maintaining operations of two existing satellites, a mission set to launch in December 2012 and development of two additional satellites.

Legislators also will examine Interior's ongoing WaterSMART initiative, which aims to tackle the problem of climate-induced water shortages in the American West. USGS contributes to the initiative by studying the changing amount, quality and use of water resources across the country. Several lawmakers have questioned whether this work is being conducted effectively.

USGS's 2012 request also would increase the budget for its network of eight climate science resource centers by $8 million from current levels. The boost would be used to establish centers in the country's Northeast and South, along with the Pacific Islands.

The agency stressed that to make these increases, significant cuts had to occur, including the elimination of projects designed to develop the backbone of Interior's national climate monitoring network, along with geochemical analysis of soil samples collected across the United States between 2006 and 2010, among other research areas.

Schedule: The hearing is Wednesday, March 9, at 2 p.m. in 1324 Longworth.

Witnesses: Marcia McNutt, director, U.S. Geological Survey; Jonathan Price, director, Nevada Bureau of Mines and Geology; John Palatiello, executive director, MAPPS; Richard Aster, president, Seismological Society of America; and Craig Schiffries, director for geoscience policy, Geological Society of America.