U.S. EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson will make the rounds on Capitol Hill this week, appearing before two House panels to defend President Obama's fiscal 2013 budget proposal.

Jackson will testify before the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Environment and the Economy tomorrow. The next day she will appear before the House Interior, Environment and Related Agencies Appropriations Subcommittee.

The administrator is likely to face tough questions about whether Obama's proposal would cut enough of EPA's budget, despite the president calling for $105 million less than the $8.4 billion Congress appropriated to the agency in its omnibus spending package last year (Greenwire, Feb. 13).

Obama's proposal is dead on arrival in Congress, since Republicans control the House. It is nevertheless a politically charged document that touched on several of the president's priorities for the upcoming year.

Consequently, Republicans will likely target the budget for Obama's ambitious call for regulations targeting everything from greenhouse gas emissions to fine particulates.

Environment and the Economy Chairman John Shimkus (R-Ill.) said earlier this year that the budget will give Republicans -- and his panel -- an opportunity to go line-by-line through the president's priorities (E&E Daily, Jan. 26).

There are several items in Obama's proposal that are sure to be targets for the GOP at the hearings.

In particular, the budget highlights two potential new rules for 2013: an ozone air pollution regulation that the president scrapped last year and new standards for fine particle pollution, or soot.

Republicans have characterized Obama's backing away from the ozone rule as a tacit acknowledgment that the rule would be detrimental to the economy.

Obama's budget also specifically mentions EPA's rule for clamping down on air pollution that drifts across state lines -- the Cross-State Air Pollution Rule (CSAPR). Republicans and industry have criticized the rule, which has since been stayed while a federal court reviews a challenge to it. Obama's budget says EPA should "continue collecting air data to inform implementation of the Cross State Air Pollution Rule, targeting power plant emissions that drift across the borders of Eastern states and the District of Columbia."

Also sure to raise the ire of Republicans is Obama's call for an additional $32.8 million for climate change programs (E&ENews PM, Feb. 13).

Additionally, Obama proposed $45 million for a three-agency study on how to increase safety surrounding the use of hydraulic fracturing to drill for natural gas. The study, which has already been sharply criticized by the GOP, would be done by EPA, the Department of Energy and the U.S. Geological Survey (E&ENews PM, Feb. 13).

Schedule: The House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Environment and the Economy hearing is tomorrow at 10 a.m. in Rayburn 2123.

Witness: EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson.

Schedule: The House Interior, Environment and Related Agencies Appropriations Subcommittee is Wednesday, Feb. 29, at 1 p.m. in 2359 Rayburn.

Witnesses: Jackson; and Barbara Bennett, EPA chief financial officer.